Tobacco.org

Smoke alarm 

A puzzling fact came up when the New York City health department did a study recently. It found that more than half of all non-smokers in New York have elevated levels of a nicotine by-product in their blood, indicating exposure to cigarette fumes. . . .

So will a survey of Mumbai show up similar results? We live in cramped spaces, jostle one another on sidewalks and could well be paying for the indulgence of the city's smokers, with women and children suffering the effects of passive smoking the most. Last October, the government banned cigarette smoking at all public places. Discos, night clubs, restaurants, and bars have all put put up 'no smoking' boards and health inspectors have the right to fine offenders.

But eight months since the ban was imposed, official figures with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) show that only 395 individuals have been fined, with the total fine amount being collected standing at a mere Rs79,000.

"The lack of manpower makes it difficult to implement such a huge project.

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• Smoke-free movies: From evidence to action (PDF) 

The tobacco industry knows that motion pictures are one of humanity’s most common entertainment experiences. In a world with two billion urban dwellers (12), cinemas sold eight billion movie tickets in 2006, an all-time high. Of these, 20% were sold in the United States and Canada; however, 80% of admissions and 63% of box office revenues were in other countries (13). Based on figures from exhibitors, distributors and market analysts, the world spends an estimated US$ 100 billion a year on cinema tickets and on legitimate or pirated video copies of films. Roughly 30% is spent on single viewings in theatres, while 70% is spent on videos that can be viewed multiple times. Motion pictures are increasingly viewed outside movie theatres and distributed through other channels. The movie medium is extended by the Internet, TV, DVDs and other video access, reaching widely across cultures and economies. Thus, exposure to film content is vastly underestimated by movie theatre attendance data . . .

In an analysis of more than 1200 US-produced live action films – nearly the entire body of feature films released to theatres both by major studios and by independent producers in 1999- 2006 – tobacco imagery permeated both youth- rated (G/PG/PG-13) and adult-rated (R) movies, with more than three quarters of US-made movies featuring tobacco imagery (14). More specifically, close to 90% of all R-rated movies included smoking, while smoking appeared in three quarters of movies rated PG-13 and was found in more than a third of movies rated G or PG. Altogether, live action movies of all ratings produced in the United States between 1999 and 2006 contained approximately 8400 tobacco incidents.iii

Of these incidents, 68% were in movies rated R; 29% in movies rated PG-13; and 3% in movies rated G or PG. (See Box 1 for an explanation of the rating system.) There was no significant trend in tobacco incidents per film, either up or down, over the period 1999–2006. . . .

Movies, especially those made in the United States, are a major source of viewer identification with celebrities. They can encapsulate dreams, craft hopes and help viewers escape the tedium of everyday life. For the tobacco industry, films can provide an opportunity to convert a deadly consumer product into a cool, glamorous and desirable lifestyle necessity. The Marlboro Man is a powerful salesman, but even he lacks the draw of popular historical and contemporary movie stars from Hollywood, Bollywood and other film production centres. In contrast to traditional advertising, film stars provide indirect but nonetheless powerful information about the “benefits” of smoking.

Experimental and observational studies (27,31) show that cigarette smoking in films can influence young peoples’ beliefs about social norms for smoking, beliefs about the function and consequences of smoking and their personal intention to smoke. The presentation of smoking in films does not reflect reality. In reality, smoking tends to be highest among lower socioeconomic groups. In films, the prevalence of smoking depicted by characters, in particular among the higher-socioeconomic characters frequently portrayed by lead actors, is higher than the prevalence of smoking by comparable people in the general population (40). The real health consequences of smoking are rarely shown (40). Young people, especially, look to those celebrities for reassurance about their choices in fashion and behaviour. As they formulate their lifestyles, the film medium may provide a particularly attractive resource to promote these choices. . . .

When developing policy, both national and global perspectives should be considered. Well designed, evidence-based public health policy will improve population health both nationally and globally. The primary objective of actions to reduce smoking imagery in the movies is:

To substantially and permanently reduce children’s and adolescents’ exposure to tobacco imagery in movies.

Only options that meet this objective would then be evaluated for political feasibility, legality, sustainability and cost. The principles that guide such evaluation include:

• Principle 1: Seek “upstream” solutions

Policy should motivate change in the film industry’s behaviour so as to reduce harmful content at the source (“upstream”) instead of burdening the adolescents in the audience and their parents with taking some sort of protective measures (“downstream”). Films with smoking imagery are causally associated with smoking initiation, and therefore industries that profit from marketing these health risks should be responsible for making them safe. . . .

In May 2007, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) proposed adding descriptors such as “pervasive smoking” or “glamorized smoking” to some ratings, absent a “mitigating context” (69).xiv Such content descriptors fail to convey the harmful effect of the film’s smoking imagery. It is the cumulative exposure to smoking in films – not the amount of smoking in a particular film – that best predicts the effect on adolescents. The recommended approach is to precede any film with tobacco imagery, in any distribution channel, with an effective anti-tobacco spot message. . . .

The Indian experience demonstrates the importance of exposing and neutralizing counter- strategies from the tobacco industry or its surrogates and allies. Successful implementation requires not only judicial intervention but also raising public awareness of the serious harm resulting from onscreen promotion of tobacco. The analytic studies in 2003 and 2004– 5 clearly established that, like the US films dominating screens in other countries, Indian films were depicting more tobacco imagery following implementation of the TCA and thus influencing young people to smoke. National interventions in India, as in the United States, can thus have global impacts in preventing smoking initiation. . . .

Experience shows that whenever tobacco advertising and promotion is restricted in one medium, it migrates to another. Tobacco appearances in films accelerated in the United States while tobacco advertising in other media was being restricted, and in India a similar process occurred after tobacco advertising in other media was prohibited. Because smoking on screen is uniquely vivid and because young people see so many films so often, its promotional effect on smoking initiation is striking. Any country seeking to ban or restrict tobacco advertising and promotion must address the issue of smoking on screen or risk having its public health efforts being severely compromised. The most vulnerable age group (adolescents) must not continue to be exposed to the most powerful promotional channel for smoking imagery available in today’s globalized economy. A comprehensive approach to combating smoking imagery in film is therefore required. . . .

There are a number of levels of intervention whereby smoking in the movies can be restricted. The overall evidence suggests that voluntary and self-regulatory measures have not been successful. Advocacy approaches to obtain stronger labelling requirements (adult ratings) for movies showing smoking imagery as well as anti-smoking messages and assurances that no payoffs are received from the tobacco industry have received wide support recently in both the United States and India. It is clear that restrictions of smoking imagery in movies with wide global distribution will serve a larger, multinational public good. Thus national approaches, and even local approaches, can have wide-ranging positive global effects. Multinational cooperation will also be critical in restricting the global reach of movie-based tobacco imagery.

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• WHO calls for enforceable policies to restrict smoking in movies 

Backed by evidence that smoking in movies causes youths to want to light up, the World Health Organization is calling upon countries to enact enforceable policies that would severely restrict such depictions.

Download full report

The report recommends that all future movies with scenes of smoking should be given an adult rating, with the possible exception of movies that reflect the dangers of tobacco use or that depict smoking by a historical figure who smoked.

Studies show that smoking continues to permeate movies, including those rated as suitable for youth. The policies recommended would help ensure that movies that are marketed to youth do not include tobacco imagery.

"Voluntary agreements to limit smoking in movies have not and cannot work," the report says. It continues, "Logic and science now support enforceable policies to severely restrict smoking imagery in all film media."

"The WHO recommendations are evidence-based and very much needed," said WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Ala Alwan.

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Thousands Join World Protest Against Smoking  

Thousands of students and activists on Sunday rallied in Jakarta and other towns across the archipelago to mark World No Tobacco Day in one of the only countries in the region that lacks a ban on cigarette advertisements.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo attended an antitobacco rally in the capital.

“This event is in line with the government’s program to reduce air pollution, and the bad habit of smoking contributes largely to the air pollution,” Antara news agency quoted Bowo as saying.

Citing a global survey, Bowo said that 46.7 percent of youths have tried smoking. He added that 9 percent had access to tobacco since the age of 10, and 20 percent of them became active smokers.

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Endangered youth 

The future lies with the youth, as it does with a healthy world, a world free of tobacco and its killer effect.

Yet we have no reason to feel optimistic about tobacco control among teenagers in China. The number of smokers between the age of 13 and 18 is estimated to be at least 15 million. This population accounts for 11.5 percent of the 130 million in this age group, according to a report released by the country's tobacco control office last year.

At least 40 million teenagers have tried cigarettes, the report says. . . .

A survey of 2,000 female high school students in Chongqing municipality in southwestern China has found that 30 percent of them are either smokers or have been smokers. They said that they picked up the habit to emulate some female stars, whose affectations with cigarettes in films or TV soap operas impressed them as being very smart.

It is more important for parents, teachers and adults, particularly smokers, to set a good example for the younger generation, which is in need of role models who do not glamorize smoking.

Pictorial illustrations of the dangers of smoking will be more effective if the warnings are reinforced by role models who can motivate the youth to shun cigarettes.

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New treatment combination proves safe for head and neck cancer patients 

Patients undergoing treatment for advanced head and neck cancers may respond well to the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy, according to a study sponsored by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and chaired by Ethan Argiris, M.D., associate professor of medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and co-leader of the Head and Neck Cancer Program of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI). The results will be disclosed at the 45th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on May 30 in Orlando, Fla.

"We found that adding gefinitib to standard chemotherapy was well-tolerated by patients who had already received chemotherapy or were frail," said Dr. Argiris. "We had hoped this study would improve the survival rate of patients, but while gefinitib did postpone spread of the disease, it did not increase survival rates. The finding that the addition of gefinitib to chemotherapy can delay the growth of head and neck cancer suggests a potential beneficial effect from combination therapy."

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Clinical Trials in Category (683) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer 

Alabama

Diverse Cities : Research Center

MAGRIT is a Phase III clinical study which evaluates the use of a potential new immunotherapy (also called a therapeutic vaccine) in the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC).

Various Cities : Research Center New!

Lung Cancer Study CASA404A2302

Alaska

Various Cities : Research Center New!

Lung Cancer Study CASA404A2302

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Sale of Single Cigarettes Heating Up 

Higher federal taxes levied in April have driven cigarette pack prices up. Add in the down economy and corner convenience stores like Murphy's Express in West Charlotte say that single-selling cigarettes are a hot item these days.

The store's owner said that since the economy hit, they have gone from selling 8 to 10 packs an evening to 17 and 18 packs an evening of just single cigarettes.

With demand up, the price has gone up. Single cigarettes are now selling for 40 cents a piece, up from 35 cents this time last year.

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Smoke ... and mirrors 

In order to balance the coming year's budget, which begins July 1, Colorado lawmakers transferred to the general fund $20 million from the reserve created by Amendment 35 for tobacco education and treatment, and $11.8 million from the 1998 national tobacco lawsuit settlement.

What's more, state legislators repealed a 50-year-old sales-tax exemption on cigarettes, a move that's worth about $30 million a year. The sales tax is 2.9 percent.

Under the 1998 agreement, states are able to use the national tobacco lawsuit funds however they see fit.

The settlement between the federal government and tobacco companies provided $206 billion . . .

"We learned this week that we'll receive $249,000 this year - 3.5 percent less than last year," said Char Day, the southwest regional director of the eight-county Lasso Tobacco Coalition.

"We'll find a way to deal with it, but it's so shortsighted," Day said. "There will be increased health-care costs in so many ways when young people take up smoking and adults don't stay quit."

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This week: TOBACCO ROADBLOCK 

Expect to see a lot of Sen. Richard Burr on the Senate floor this week. North Carolina's senior senator will be fighting a rearguard action against tobacco regulation by the Food and Drug Administration -- a popular piece of legislation and a battle Burr is likely to lose.

The Senate is expected to take up the tobacco bill Tuesday or Wednesday. Sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the bill would allow the FDA to impose strict regulations on advertising and the chemical makeup of tobacco products.

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MORAIN: Consumers win with court's Prop. 64 decision 

Where was the tobacco industry in the Prop. 64 campaign? Philip Morris USA, the world's largest cigarette-maker, gave $200,000 to help pass the initiative. Now that the consumers' tobacco lawsuit can proceed in California courts, Philip Morris has the most to lose.

To sell the measure to voters, the backers made no mention that tobacco companies could benefit. They made no mention of AIG, Countrywide or any other big business. As stated in the official ballot pamphlet, proponents said the goal was narrow: "Protect small businesses from frivolous lawsuits. Close the shakedown loophole."

The California Supreme Court struck a blow not just for the little guy with its ruling. It also decreed that initiative promoters ought to be a little less slick with their campaign rhetoric.

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Macao to raise tobacco tax by 300% 

The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Thursday announced that it has drawn up a bill proposing to increase the duty on cigarettes from 0.05 pataca (0.006 U.S. dollar) to 0.2 pataca (0.025 dollar) per stick, which is an increment of 300 percent.

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• Macao to ban indoor smoking in public places 

Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) will amend its smoking-control law, banning indoor smoking in all public places, said Lei Chin Ion, director of the SAR's Health Bureau, on Sunday.

Aside from the banning of indoor smoking, new measures such as fixed penalty and image of warning posted on cigarette package will be adopted in the new law, said Lei, on the sideline of local "World No Tobacco Day" campaign.

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World No Tobacco Day marked with gigantic cigarette 

Students from Huaibei Health School gesticulate around a 5-meter-long gigantic cigarette, a hand-made model for a smoking-deserting publicity on the World No Tobacco Day which falls on May 31, on their campus in Huaibei, east China's Anhui Province, May 30, 2009. (

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• Myanmar Media Stress Control Of Tobacco Consumption 

Myanmar official media Monday warned of the danger of tobacco, calling on the people to actively participate in the control of tobacco consumption, reports Xinhua news agency quoting a local daily.

According to the New Light of Myanmar, Health Minister Dr Kyww Myint stressed the need to organize the citizens to know the danger of tobacco and to join in tobacco consumption control.

He made these remarks in the wake of the warning by the World Health Organization (WHO) that consumption of tobacco and tobacco products killed over five million people yearly and the use of tobacco remained the main factor of causing diseases in the year 2020.

The WHO has designated the motto "Tobacco Health Warning" for this year with a view to enabling the people to understand the danger of tobacco by printing the health warning on packages of tobacco.

According to the paper, Myanmar marked the World No Tobacco Day- 2009 in Nay Pyi Taw ceremonially on Sunday.

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