Tobacco.org

• Marital Status Influences Women's Smoking Rates 

Smoking rates of Korean women widely vary according to one's marital status and age, according to a survey. In some cases, the difference was as wide as 14 times.

A team of researchers led by Cho Hong-joon, a family medicine professor at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, surveyed some 100,000 Korean men and women (57,246 females, 52,769 males) on their smoking patterns in 1999 and 2003. The survey showed that 2.5 percent of the married women were smokers, while 7.1 percent of the unmarried women and 9 percent of those who suffered the death of their spouses enjoyed smoking. The figure for divorced women rose drastically to 16 percent, according to the survey released Sunday.

On the contrary, smoking rates of men were not significantly different whether or not they were married.

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Wife Indicted For Killing Husband With Secondhand Tobacco Smoke 

A wife has been indicted for killing her husband by causing him to contract fatal lung cancer after subjecting him to tobacco smoke for thirty years, and the District Attorney is pursuing the case at the urging of the couple's adult son.

That is the plot of a controversial new film titled 'The Pack' which is raising intriguing, emotional, and complicated questions about choice, individual responsibility, and the scope of criminal law. . . .

As the evidence that secondhand tobacco smoke kills tens of thousands of Americans each year multiplies, the potential for civil - and possibly even criminal - liability for subjecting other people to it grows, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization.

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No smoking: the drawbacks 

SMOKING bans in restaurants and bars may be doing more harm than good by banishing smokers to homes where children's health could be affected.

And tax hikes on cigarettes may not improve the health of smokers, because smokers compensate by extracting more nicotine from each cigarette, according to research by British economists Francesca Cornaglia and Jerome Adda.

The pair analysed the nicotine levels of more than 30,000 non-smokers in the US between 1998 and 2001 following smoking bans in some states. They found that bans on public transport and in schools decreased exposure to nicotine, but bans in bars and restaurants increased exposure, notably among young children. . . .

In their paper, "Taxes, Cigarette Consumption and Smoking Intensity", the authors argued their findings questioned the usefulness of tax increases.

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Pub smoking bans 'may be harming kids' 

SMOKING bans in pubs and restaurants may endanger children by causing smokers to indulge in their habit more frequently at home, a visiting academic says.

Research by economist Francesca Cornaglia of Queen Mary University, London, has found higher levels of passive smoking among children in the US where such bans exist.

Smoking bans at pubs, clubs and restaurants have been introduced in most Australian states in the past few years.

Dr Cornaglia today said the data suggested that people who were no longer allowed to smoke in such public places were simply changing the location of where they smoked.

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Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Women and Children: Evidence From 31 Countries  

Results. Median air nicotine concentration was 17 times higher in households with smokers (0.18 µg/m3) compared with households without smokers (0.01 µg/m3). Air nicotine and hair nicotine concentrations in women and children increased with the number of smokers in the household. The dose-response relationship was steeper among children. Air nicotine concentrations increased an estimated 12.9 times (95% confidence interval=9.4, 17.6) in households allowing smoking inside compared with those prohibiting smoking inside.

Conclusions. Our results indicate that women and children living with smokers are at increased risk of premature death and disease from exposure to SHS. Interventions to protect women and children from household SHS need to be strengthened.

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Secondhand Smoke Exposure: Worldwide Concern 

Although secondhand smoke has been linked to death and illness, a new study suggests that parents around the world do very little to protect their children from “passive smoking” exposure.

Heather Wipfli, Ph.D., project director at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and colleagues conducted home surveys in 31 countries.

Researchers examined the smoking histories of the adults in the homes, exposures to secondhand smoke inside the house and in the community, and attitudes toward smoking. They used air-sampling technology to gauge nicotine levels in homes and hair samples to measure individual exposure levels of non-smoking women and children.

The study appears in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

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'Children abused with cigarette burns'  

A 45-year-old man from Ramle is under arrest for abusing his eight children, aged 5-12, with his girlfriend, 36, police said Monday.

According to suspicions, the father would beat the children with a pipe and would burn cigarettes on them as punishment.

The allegations were uncovered as a result of a complaint submitted to the city's welfare services.

The father, who was responsible for raising his eight children along with his girlfriend, had long been suspected of routine abusive behavior.

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Dads' Substance Use Hurts Expectant Moms' Efforts to Quit 

Men typically continue to smoke and drink while their female partner is pregnant and after she's given birth, which can make it difficult for women to stop smoking and drinking during pregnancy and more likely to resume such habits after their child is born, a University of Washington study says.

"The months after childbirth are critical for intervening with mothers," study co-author Jennifer Bailey, a research scientist affiliated with the Social Development Research Group in the UW's School of Social Work, said in a prepared statement.

"For example, many already have done the hard work of quitting smoking and haven't smoked a cigarette in six months or more. We should support that effort so that they can continue as nonsmokers. However, we know if dad is smoking or drinking, it is more likely that mom will resume smoking or drinking," Bailey said.

She and her colleague Karl Hill, a research associate professor of social work, studied hundreds of Seattle mothers' and fathers' month-by-month substance use over a three-year period that included pregnancy.

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Smokers take note... 

People who smoke at home around their toddlers could be setting them up for heart disease, new research has demonstrated.

Specialists say toddlers are more seriously affected than teenagers by smoking in their homes because toddlers are housebound "like fish in a bowl".

The research, by Dr Judy Groner, paediatrician at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Research Institute in the US, was presented at the American Heart Association's recent 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

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• Hospital shock for kids of smokers 

CHILDREN of smokers are a shocking 70 per cent more likely to end up in hospital than youngsters whose parents don't light up, according to a top medic.

And Dr Iolo Doull, consultant respiratory paediatrician at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, claims about a third of youngsters he treats are there because of chest-related problems linked to passive smoking in the home.

Dr Doull said: "If either parent smokes your chances of having a chest problem are 20 per cent greater and chances of having an ear problem are 60 per cent greater. Sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, is twice that in mothers who smoke.

"Basically, you're more likely to have coughing and wheezing in the first two years of life. The risks of coming into hospital are 70 per cent greater than if you have got parents who don't smoke."

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Dads to be blamed for pregnant mums not quitting 

Despite extensive health campaigns, a number of women continue to use substances such as tobacco, marijuana and alcohol during pregnancy and return to their usage rebounds to pre-pregnancy levels within two years of having a baby, says a new study which blames dads for it.

According to the study's lead authors Jennifer Bailey and Karl Hill, who are affiliated with the Social Development Research Group in the University of Washington's School of Social Work, men's level of binge drinking and substance abuse remains stable before, during and after pregnancy, making it harder for mums to stop smoking or drinking.

"The months after childbirth are critical for intervening with mothers," said Bailey, who is a UW research scientist. . . .

The study is published in the journal Birth Issues in Perinatal Care. (ANI)

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• Young mothers don't kick habit long 

Young expectant mothers may quit drinking and smoking during pregnancy, but they are back to old habits roughly two years after giving birth, a new University of Washington study of local families suggests.

If dads typically engaged in binge drinking and smoking cigarettes and marijuana before a partner's pregnancy, becoming a father didn't change those habits, the report said. That's a problem because if Dad is still smoking or drinking, it is even harder for Mom to stay sober and tobacco free.

"If your partner is still using that substance, it is crazy to imagine even if you beat it down for the pregnancy, it is not going to come back," said Dr. Jim Walsh, director of the Addiction Recovery Services program at Swedish Hospital's Ballard campus.

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CAROLYN HAX  

I 100 percent totally agree with your answer [in support of the husband who doesn't want a baby until his wife quits smoking]. It is one thing to be married to an immature smoker; it is quite another to watch her become mother to your child(ren).

So my question is: Where and when do you draw that line?

• SEXTON: It's time to try to put an end to a deadly family habit 

The tobacco industry has done plenty of good things in a number of places in this country, including this city and this state. It’s fed, clothed and housed thousands of families - including mine - for generations.

Without tobacco money, there is no college diploma gathering dust in my den, and I’m not sitting here working a job I’ve dreamed about having since I was old enough to hold a pencil.

My father worked for Lorillard Tobacco Co. for almost 25 years . . . .

The tobacco industry has done plenty of good things in a number of places in this country, including this city and this state. It’s fed, clothed and housed thousands of families - including mine - for generations.

Without tobacco money, there is no college diploma gathering dust in my den, and I’m not sitting here working a job I’ve dreamed about having since I was old enough to hold a pencil.

My father worked for Lorillard Tobacco Co. for almost 25 years It’s not going to be easy dropping those last few cigarettes. I’ve tried before, using hypnotism, nicotine gum and the patch. There will be no gimmicks today; I’m trying it cold turkey. I may fail miserably, but at least this time, I’m willing to say out loud that I’m serious and really want to quit.

I dearly loved my old man, and still do. But I don’t want to follow in his footsteps, so that’s why I’ve got to do this.

Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.

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• Toddlers Affected Most By Secondhand Smoke Exposure At Home, Study Shows 

Secondhand smoke in the home appears to induce markers for heart disease as early as the toddler years, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

It has long been known that many forms of cardiovascular disease in adults are initiated and progress silently during childhood. Now researchers have found a young child's response to smoke may not just affect the respiratory system, but the cardiovascular system as well.

"This is the first study that looks at the response of a young child's cardiovascular system to secondhand smoke," said Judith Groner, M.D., lead author of the study, pediatrician and ambulatory care physician at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

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