Tobacco.org

Exposure to lead, tobacco smoke raises risk of ADHD 

Children exposed prenatally to tobacco smoke and during childhood to lead face a particularly high risk for ADHD, according to research done at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The study estimates that up to 35 percent of ADHD cases in children between the ages of 8 and 15 could be reduced by eliminating both of these environmental exposures. This could translate into up to 800,000 children

"Tobacco and lead exposure each have their own important adverse effect," says Tanya Froehlich, M.D., a physician in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's and the study's lead author. "But if children are exposed to both lead and prenatal tobacco, the combined effect is synergistic."

The study is to be published online Nov. 23 by Pediatrics.

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Toddlers, Obese Kids Suffer Most From Smoke 

Secondhand smoke harms the cardiovascular health of children, especially toddlers and obese youngsters, U.S. researchers say.

Their study of 52 toddlers (aged 2 to 5) and 107 adolescents (aged 9 to 18) found an association between the amount of secondhand smoke exposure and a marker of vascular injury in toddlers. This link was two times greater in obese toddlers, the study authors noted.

Toddlers exposed to secondhand smoke showed a 30 percent reduction in circulating vascular endothelial progenitor cells, which are cells that are involved in the repair and maintenance of blood vessels.

The researchers also found that obese adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke had twice the evidence of vascular injury compared to normal-weight adolescents.

Despite having similar reported home settings, toddlers were four times more likely than adolescents to be exposed to secondhand smoke, the study authors added.

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Rate of tobacco sales to minors rises 

Each year the rate of tobacco sales to under-aged youth is tested through a collaboration between the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Nebraska State Patrol and the City of Omaha Police Department.

"We encourage merchants to review their procedures to stop tobacco sales to minors, and to have their employees always ask for identification from those wanting to buy tobacco products," said Scot Adams, Ph.D., director of the DHHS Division of Behavioral Health. "IDs should be carefully reviewed, because it's illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under 18."

Nebraska's buy rate has been edging up since 2005, when the rate was 10.7 percent. In 2009, cooperating teens attempted buys in 767 locations and made purchases in 104, for a statewide rate of 13.6 percent.

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The Inalienable Right to Smoke - Cigarettes  

Several large NYC landlords are moving to ban smoking inside their own apartment complexes, and on the sidewalks outside them, as well. Clearly, this violates our just-made-up list of Places People Can Always Smoke, No Takebacks.

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Stevenson High School officials halt publication of student newspaper, the Statesman  

Administrators at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire spiked Friday's edition of the school's award-winning newspaper because of concerns about stories on drinking and smoking by honor students, teen pregnancy, and shoplifting, the editor said.

Advocates of press freedom bashed the decision to halt publication.

"It is irresponsible to withhold this information so they can protect their fantasy image of Stevenson as a place where no one has ever gotten pregnant or shoplifted," said Frank LoMante, executive director of the Virginia-based Student Press Law Center. . . .

In the most recent incident, administrators on the paper's review board warned editor Pam Selman, a senior, not to submit a front-page story by senior managing editor Evan Ribot about students in the National Honor Society and freshmen mentors program.

In it, two students, quoted anonymously, admitted to drinking and smoking, which are prohibited under the society's no-use contract.

The administrators warned that they would ask for the students' names and potentially take disciplinary action against them, Selman said.

Rather than revealing their sources, the paper's staff decided to submit a blank front page to the board on Tuesday, she said, with a note to readers about why the story wasn't there.

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• Secondhand smoke exposure worse for toddlers, obese children 

Toddlers and obese children suffer more than other youth when exposed to secondhand smoke, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.

"Secondhand smoke in children is not just bad for respiratory issues, as has been previously described by other researchers," said John Anthony Bauer, Ph.D., the study's senior co-author and principal investigator at Nationwide Children's Hospital & Research Institute at Ohio State University in Columbus. "Our data support the view that cardiovascular effects of secondhand smoke in children are important, particularly for the very young and those who are obese. We had not investigated the impact of obesity in previous studies."

Bauer and colleagues recruited American boys and girls, including 52 toddlers (ages 2 to 5 years) and 107 adolescents (ages 9 to 18 years). The study included black, white and Hispanic children, including obese toddlers and adolescents.

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Findlay High School posts video on the web to combat smoking 

Facebook and YouTube are popular websites among teens. But now, schools are logging onto their very own space on the internet to stop smoking on school premises.

"I'm glad I'm a smoker," a student said on camera.

Smokers across the street from Findlay High School were captured on camera speaking candidly by Carrie Lambers, a communications student on a mission to cleanup the corner.

"It was an eyesore to the high school," Lambers said. "So my goal was to show students to do it as a public service announcement, to show that there are teenagers smoking, and I believe that it needs to stop."

The students tackle tough subjects often avoided by schools.

But their advisor, Jim McGonnell, says the kids have full support from the school district to speak freely.

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City wants grant to battle smoking 

The American Cancer Society asks smokers to give up the habit for one day today as part of the Great American Smokeout.

A $2 million federal grant could help St. Joseph fight an anti-smoking battle of its own with longer lasting results.

The City Council gave the City of St. Joseph Health Department the green light Monday to apply for the Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant — part of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009. If the funding is approved, the health department will work with Heartland Health, the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Buchanan County, the St. Joseph School District, Missouri Western State University, the St. Joseph Youth Alliance and the University of Missouri to implement an anti-smoking marketing campaign, smoking cessation services and other programs.

City Health Director Debra Bradley provided statistics showing the severity of St. Joseph’s smoking problem among young people. According to a study from the health department and Heartland Health, 56 percent of local youths age 18 to 24 smoke, while roughly one in four adults are smokers.

Council member Mike Bozarth was the most vocal opponent of Monday’s resolution. As a smoker and opponent of expanded government regulations, Mr. Bozarth said he didn’t want the council to take part in a program that could restrict citizens’ personal choices.

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Legislator wants to ban nicotine candy  

A northern Utah lawmaker wants the state to do away with nicotine candy that he says poses a danger to children.

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would "outright ban" the nicotine candy.

"It's on the shelf now," Ray said. "We're going to take it off the shelf. We're basically making the comment that it's just not welcome in Utah. Go somewhere else and kill their residents but we're going to draw the line here."

Ray said the candies -- which differ from approved smoking-cessation products -- are designed to look like candy or gum and are attractive to children. Ray's own 7-year-old daughter saw some advertised and asked for some, which frightened him because just a few of the candy tablets can kill a young child.

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• Internet Cigarette Sales--an Illegal Rip-off of Our Nation / It's Time for the Feds to Act! (PDF) 

• Intent on determining whether progress has been made in curbing the illegal Internet sale of tobacco products, an American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) researcher selected 27 Internet sites at random and purchased 22 cartons of cigarettes using a Visa card and a prepaid Visa card. Of the 27 random sites selected using the Internet search engine Google, 74% allowed the use of a credit card—Visa, Diners Club, MasterCard, and/or American Express.

• None of the cigarettes purchased carried U.S. state tax stamps, and in no case were taxes collected at the time of purchase.

• The American Wholesale Marketers Association will notify proper state authorities of the purchases and pay the appropriate amount of tax to comply with the law.

• Age verification was virtually nonexistent. Most sites simply had a statement on the home page, or hidden in a disclaimer or under Frequently Asked Questions, stating that a purchaser must be a certain age to buy cigarettes. Some asked for a simple check-off that the buyer was over 18.

• This study clearly demonstrates that efforts to restrict illegal cigarette sales via the Internet are ineffective, that billions of dollars in taxes are going uncollected, and that legitimate sellers of tobacco products in the U.S. face unfair competition from unscrupulous online purveyors who are scoffing at U.S. laws and tax requirements.

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• Organizations Call on U.S. Senate to Pass Legislation Preventing Tax‐Evading Online Cigarette Trafficking (PDF) 

Representatives of law enforcement groups, public health organizations and trade associations today gathered on Capitol Hill to urge the Senate to pass S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (PACT Act). This legislation will help combat online cigarette sales that have robbed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from the states and that undermine state laws that prevent youth access to tobacco products. This bill closes gaps in current federal laws regulating “remote” or “delivery” sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

These organizations were joined by Sen. Herb Kohl (D‐WI) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D‐NY), advocates of combating illegal cigarette sales. Numerous stakeholders have worked with Sen. Kohl through the years to pass the PACT Act, which was passed in the House of Representatives this May.

“The PACT Act will strengthen our tobacco laws to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to investigate and prosecute cigarette traffickers, said Sen. Kohl. “Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.” . . .

Organizations represented at the press conference included the National Association of Convenience Stores, American Wholesale Marketers Association, National Black Police Association and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. . . .

The American Wholesale Marketers Association also released its latest findings from a study it conducted examining the prevalence of illegal Internet cigarette sales and the cost to the country. In the study AWMA found the cost to states in illegal cigarette sales could be upwards of $5 billion per year, and that with online sales there is almost no age verification at the time of purchase.

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• UF study finds more teens smoke hookah 

Danielle Lee won’t touch a cigarette, but she’ll pass a hookah pipe around a circle of friends any day.

And, according to a recent UF study, an increasing number of middle school- and high school-aged children share Lee’s fondness for the alternative form of tobacco.

The study, presented on Nov. 9 at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of Florida middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

Hookah burns charcoal and tobacco. Air is first drawn through the tobacco and then into the pipe, where it passes through water, which leads many smokers to believe hookah smoking is safer than cigarette or cigar smoking.

Maureen Miller, alcohol and other drug prevention specialist with UF’s GatorWell Health Promotion Services, was quick to point out hookah’s potentially dangerous effects.

“This isn’t harmless,” Miller said of hookah. “There certainly are some serious health concerns here.” The World Health Organization reported a typical 20- to 80-minute hookah session is the equivalent of smoking about 100 cigarettes and can deliver 11 times more carbon monoxide than a cigarette.

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• Coalition Pressures Senate to Pass Cigarette Anti-trafficking Bill  

The illegal sale of tobacco products through the Internet leads to tax evasion and tobacco use by young people, members of Congress and merchants said Tuesday.

The Coalition to Stop Contraband Tobacco urged the Senate to pass a bill that would address the issue. The bill is scheduled for a vote Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the Internet," said Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who sponsored the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act.

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Persistence pays off for anti-puffing group  

Cadence Hayes is one of the crusaders who was involved in the push to convince city council to move forward with the idea of the outdoor smoking ban on certain city properties.

She says it was a lot of hard work.

"We knew it would take some work when we started. We actually thought that the first time we presented to city council, way back in February of this year, we thought it would be passed. It wasn't," the petite blonde student recalled.

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City council approves outdoor smoking ban  

Acting on the advice of a group of teenagers, Timmins city council has agreed to ban smoking in outdoor spaces in Timmins that are within ten metres of beaches, playgrounds, parks and recreational fields, such as ball diamonds and soccer fields. Council approved third and final reading of a bylaw amendment Monday evening.

The vote was solidly in favour of the anti-smoking sentiment with most councilors saying they're confident that the majority of citizens favour the ban and that even those who disagree with it, will obey the ban.

The amendment to the bylaw was first suggested last winter by Whisper Out Loud, part of the Youth Action Alliance with the Porcupine Health Unit.

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