Tobacco.org

• Anti-smoking ads rekindle desire 

ADVERTISING encouraging people to quit smoking may be making it harder for quitters to stay on the wagon.

In the world's first long-term international study of people who have given up smoking, researchers found that respondents showed widespread resilience to cravings in the first 30 days.

But after that, cravings occurred more often in those reminded of smoking, by being exposed to stimuli such as friends who smoke or by viewing advertisements.

Ron Borland of Cancer Council Victoria, who co-wrote the study published in the international journal Addiction, said people who experienced long-term cravings were much less likely to kick the smoking habit.

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• Smoking: why women are at great risk 

Recently, further scientific evidence has emerged to suggest that women may be at particular risk from smoking.

This year, a Norwegian study of almost 2000 women showed that women were at a higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at a younger age, and after smoking less heavily, than men.

COPD is an umbrella term that incorporates emphysema and chronic bronchitis. There are four stages of the condition, which are ranked in terms of their severity.

"We estimate that 2.1 million people in Australia have some form of COPD, and half of them don't know it," says Heather Allan, director of the COPD National Program at the Australian Lung Foundation. . . .

This isn't the first study that suggests that women may be more at risk from smoking than men. A 2005 Monash University found that women were more susceptible to exposure to smoke than men. Allan says researchers believe this could be because women have narrower and more sensitive airways than men.

A report by the British Lung Foundation in 2005 suggested it may be because women's lung capacity is smaller, and population studies have also suggested that there may be a genetic element involved.

This is why health campaigners are so concerned that more young women in their teens and 20s are starting and continuing to smoke than men. . . .

The reasons for women's increased risk of lung disease have not yet been fully researched. According to NHS Direct in the UK, a gene that speeds up the growth of lung tumours is known to be more active in women.

The female hormone oestrogen is also known to affect the development of such tumours. . . .

For the cost of a local call from anywhere in Australia, the Quitline provides advice and assistance to smokers who want to quit.

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Adolescents’ Perceptions of Cigarette Brand Image: Does Plain Packaging Make a Difference?  

Results: When brand elements such as color, branded fonts, and imagery were progressively removed from cigarette packs, adolescents perceived packs to be less appealing, rated attributes of a typical smoker of the pack less positively, and had more negative expectations of cigarette taste. Pack appeal was reduced even further when the size of the pictorial health warning on the most plain pack was increased from 30% to 80% of the pack face, with this effect apparent among susceptible nonsmokers, experimenters, and established smokers.

Conclusions: Removing as much brand information from cigarette packs as possible is likely to reduce positive cigarette brand image associations among adolescents. By additionally increasing the size of pictorial health warnings, positive pack perceptions of those who are at greater risk of becoming regular addicted adult smokers are most likely to be reduced.

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• Cigarette Packaging Influences Teens to Buy and Try  

Even before adolescents try smoking, they have preconceived ideas about what smoking is like. They often glean these images from the appeal of a cigarette pack. Colors, images, logos and font sizes all play a part in increasing teens’ susceptibility to future tobacco use.

“We found that when branding is progressively removed from a cigarette pack, adolescents not only perceive the packs to be less attractive, they associate the brand with people who have less favorable attributes. They also assume the cigarettes have a more negative taste,” said study co-author Melanie Wakefield, Ph.D.

Wakefield is director of the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer of the Cancer Council Victoria. The study appears online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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• Underage smoking 'should be illegal' 

Underage smoking should be an offence like underage drinking, says the peak body for corner stores and petrol stations.

The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) is calling on government to make it illegal for under 18s to smoke, handing police the power to issue fines or court attendance notices.

AACS executive director Sheryle Moon, says existing youth anti-smoking measures place a "disproportionate burden on retailers".

"Where is the deterrent to make our kids stub out?" Ms Moon said in a statement.

"We believe it is high time that the responsibility for youth smoking is shared and our young people are given a reason to think twice before sparking up.

"We agree convenience stores have a key role to play in limiting minors access to cigarettes, but we can only do so much."

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• Hundreds fined for smoking in cars since new laws 

MORE than 400 people have been cautioned or fined for smoking in cars with children in South Australia since the controversial law was introduced.

The state led the nation by introducing a law prohibiting smoking in vehicles in the presence of people under 16 in May 2007, in a bid to protect children from passive smoking.

Since then, police have fined 317 people and cautioned 85.

Offenders can be issued with an on-the-spot fine of $75 and if it proceeds to court, the maximum penalty is $200.

A woman was recently convicted for the offence in NSW just three months after that state brought in the new laws.

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Govt quits anti-smoking campaign 

A novel anti-smoking program aimed at primary school students has lost Tasmanian Government funding under the QUIT program.

Surgeon Stephen Wilkinson has been running the 'Docs for a Day' program for 15 years, giving thousands of students a dose of reality about the effects of smoking.

"We've had very clear evidence that people have changed their behaviour as a result," he said.

But the Government is not convinced and has withdrawn support.

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• Austria tops teen smokers ranking  

Austria has the highest percentage of 15-year-old smokers, 25 per cent, in Europe, according to a Vienna doctor. Manfred Neuberger, the head of the preventive-medicine division at Vienna Medical University, added the number of Austrian youth who smoked had been steadily increasing since 1997 and that 145,891 Austrians aged 11 to 17 smoked.

Noting the average age at which young people began smoking had fallen to 11, he said: "The younger one begins, the worse the consequences will be.”

Neuberger claimed the government had been doing too little to get young people not to smoke. "It is easier to buy cigarettes than groceries,” he said, adding the government should use the 60 million Euros in cigarette taxes that young smokers paid annually to pay for a prevention campaign.

Neuberger called protection of non-smokers in Austria "a health and political time bomb” and said the country was on the level of the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Albania and Serbia in that regard. The doctor cited polls in Styria and Upper Austria that had shown 91 per cent of people who visited nightspots felt harmed by secondary smoke and 60 per cent of them wanted the law on smoking toughened.

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Smoking-related lung disease rising in Queensland  

A survey by the Australian Lung Foundation found 46 per cent of Queenslanders aged over 35 admit to being smokers, or to having been smokers in the past.

Dr Kwun Fong from Brisbane's Prince Charles Hospital says 600,000 cases of lung disease were reported in Queensland between 2007 and 2008.

He says smoking is one of the most common causes.

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Ban on smoking in cars  

RESIDENTS will be hit with a $200 on the spot fine if they are caught smoking in a car that is carrying a child.

The new state law that bans smoking in a car that is carrying children under 16 will come into effect at the beginning of next year.

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• Queensland Car Smoking Ban 

Queensland has banned smoking in cars carrying children under the age of 16.

Deputy Premier and Health Minister Paul Lucas said the new laws would start from January next year and apply on all public roads.

"These new laws are about reducing the exposure children have to tobacco smoke," Mr Lucas said in a statement on Thursday.

The legislation was passed in Queensland parliament yesterday as part of measures contained in the Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009.

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• Almost half of all Victorian smokers still light up around children 

Almost half of Victoria's cigarette smokers still light up around children, despite an increase over the last decade in the number of homes that enforce a no-smoking policy.

New research released today by the Cancer Council Victoria found significant improvement in the efforts of parents to keep tobacco smoke away from their kids.

In 1998 just over half of surveyed households had home smoking bans, but in the latest survey just under three quarters of respondents to a phone survey said their household's regular smoker always or usually smoked outside.

If there is a child in the house, it is even more likely (82 per cent) the smoker will go outside.

However the researchers said it was not an even trend. Parents were much more likely to protect their children from cigarette smoke when they were aged under five. There was a belief that as their child gets older they are better able to tolerate or avoid smoke exposure. Also, households in lower socio-economic areas were less likely to enforce home smoking bans.

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• Call to ban smokers from funded IVF 

Couples who smoke, or are overweight, should be denied taxpayer-funded access to fertility treatments until they take steps to improve their health, a visiting expert says.

Professor Nicholas Macklon says Australia should follow the example of New Zealand and other countries, which do not publicly fund assisted reproduction services for couples who are smokers or obese.

"I suggest that Australia should consider this model," said Prof Macklon, who is head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Southampton University in England.

"... and patients should not expect to undertake infertility treatment unless they are prepared to give themselves the best chance of conceiving and having a healthy baby. . . .

Prof Macklon spoke at the Fertility Society of Australia's annual meeting, a three-day event which got under way in Perth on Monday.

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Adults still smoking around children 

FOUR in 10 Victorian smokers continue to light up around children, new figures show.

Data released from a Cancer Council Victoria survey of 4,500 people also reveals 11 per cent of regular smokers either usually or always smoke inside the home, even if living with children.

Royal Children's Hospital pediatrician Dr Rob Roseby said smoking increases the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and elevates the risk of contracting meningococcal disease by a staggering 700 per cent. . . .

A new Quit ad campaign on the dangers of exposing children to secondhand smoke will air in Victoria from Sunday.

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Smoking linked to chronic lower back pain 

Smokers can add another health concern to their list as research shows daily tobacco use can lead to a bad back.

A major Canadian study has identified a higher rate of chronic lower back pain among people who smoke every day, particularly the young.

Professor Michael Cousins said the research suggested their smoking was interfering with pain transmitters, causing osteoporosis or affecting their spine-related blood circulation.

The condition resulted in chronic lower back pain which could also trigger a "downward spiral" in a person's life, he warned.

"Chronic pain is now regarded as a disease in its own right," said Prof Cousins, who is director of the Pain Management Research Institute at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

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