Tobacco.org

Careless smoking listed as cause of fatal fire  

NIAGARA FALLS--A woman who died in a city fire Thursday in a Monteagle Ridge Estates townhouse was identified Friday, and careless smoking is believed to have caused the blaze, Fire Chief William MacKay said.

MacKay said thermal burns and toxic gas were the causes of death of Mary E. Trusello, 52, who lived alone in the two-story townhouse at 4600 Hyde Park Blvd.

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Council may adopt smoking ordinance  

Smoking in public will be back on the city's agenda for Tuesday night as the Kilgore Cty Council plans to discuss and possibly adopt Ordinance No. 1430.

Joe Parker, mayor, said the council will have several options to talk about, including how strict the ordinance should be regarding the prohibition of smoking in public places and workplaces.

He said Jeff Howell, city manager, and Rob Schleier, city attorney, have been working on an ordinance based on Tyler and Longview's ordinances, as well as suggestions from the American Cancer Society. Tyler's is strict, whereas Longview's provides for some exemptions.

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Fuming over smoke-plan withdrawal 

The 17-year-old joined an antismoking club at St. Mary's, one of seven high schools in the region that received $1,000 for student-led tobacco prevention activities from the province as part of the Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy.

Earlier this week the province announced it was dropping the high school grant program, started in 2005 and run locally by Region of Waterloo Public Health.

Funding was also cut by to the Youth Action Alliance Program, another campaign administered by public health with two full-time supervisors and 14 part-time peer leaders work to discourage teen smoking. Costing $230,000, the program will end in August. . . .

New statistics point to the great need for antismoking efforts aimed at teens. More than one in 10 teens in the region smoke occasionally or daily, according to a 2007 regional survey released this week. And most smokers said they started in their teen years, usually around 15.

A University of Waterloo researcher, who runs a Health Canada-sponsored survey of adolescents, found youth smoking rates have flatlined after a decade-long decline.

Graves is trying to quit, but found her addiction has a strong hold.

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BOWER: Prevention track against smoking right way to go 

Suddenly in Arizona, quitting the deadly addiction of smoking is the thing to do. As we heard last week, Arizona had the largest drop in the country in smoking prevalence - more than 20 percent - putting us seventh in the nation.

We can all breathe a little easier now; or can we?

The bulk of the credit goes to the voters of Arizona. In 2006, voters set the stage to push Arizona forward by passing the Smoke-Free Arizona initiative and voting to increase taxes on tobacco. And now in only a few years, we are seeing dramatic results.

Despite this tremendous progress, tobacco remains the No. 1 cause of preventable death in Arizona and causes a whole range of health issues. From cancer to heart attack and stroke, lung disease and premature aging, tobacco still has an impact on our everyday lives.

And, for the budget-minded, tobacco creates unneeded stress on our health-care systems, driving up costs for everyone. . . .

As shocking as it may sound, Arizona was one of the last states to offer a smoking-cessation benefit to those on state Medicaid. Now, members of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System can get real help when trying to quit tobacco. . . .

The culture shift that has occurred among the larger population groups in Arizona still lags among many minority groups. The state has taken tremendous leaps toward engaging communities and local organizations during the past year, but more work is ahead. These initiatives are geared to attack the problem within the community, at the most basic level; and over time, these initiatives will help to close this disparity gap.

The "Venomocity.com" ad campaign geared toward teens is cutting edge for youth prevention; new efforts are in place to engage long-term smokers at the local level; and a host of small policy changes are all taking effect. And, on Tuesday, Arizona will host the National Conference on Tobacco or Health, the nation's largest tobacco-policy conference.

What does this all mean? Simply put, Arizona once again is stepping out as a national leader in tobacco control, and we need to keep leading the way.

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• Report: Smoking declines as alcohol, drug use hold steady  

A new report on substance abuse and mental health shows a small percentage of people are kicking smoking while alcohol and illicit drug-use levels remain steady. . . . the report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, out Thursday, also carries home the message that while all states have problems, there are big variations across the U.S. . . .

In states where people reported having a perception of great risk about substance abuse, the problem is more often reported at lower levels than in states where risk is not as great a concern, according to the study, based on the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The 2006-2007 interview data is collected from 135,672 persons and is compared to the 2005-2006 data. Smoking declined from 24.96% to 24.63% with the greatest decrease among 12 to 25 year olds.

"Cigarette use continues to decline," says Hughes. "One statistic we use to try to gauge is the (perceived) risk of smoking cigarettes. If people think it's risky to use cigarettes, we tend to see an opposite effect happening."

For instance, California is among the states with highest percentage of people who regard smoking as a health hazard (77.35%) and had the second lowest smoking rate (19.79%) behind Utah (17.51%). Utah's perception of risk was slightly lower (76.93%) than California's. Nationwide, a slight drop was recorded compared to 2005-2006 (74.14% vs 73.86%). West Virginia, on the other hand, has the highest rate of cigarette users of all states (31.10%) for people aged 12 and older and has the lowest perception of risk level associated with smoking (67.88%). Oklahoma and Tennessee, which ranked No. 2 and 3 behind West Virginia for percentages of smokers, were also among states with lowest perception of risk.

"We're painfully aware of the problem," said Teresa Mace, media director of West Virginia's Office of Community Health Systems and Health Promotion. "We have a state tobacco quit line and other kinds of cessation programs that are offered to all West Virginians. We've gotten a lot better at getting our message to the people who need to know but it's hard to match the amounts spent by the tobacco industry."

Colorado is the only state showing an increase in tobacco use

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Life, health insurers invest big in tobacco 

Major US, Canadian and British life and health insurance companies have billions of dollars invested in tobacco companies, a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine said.

Wesley Boyd, the study's lead author, found that at least 4.4 billion dollars in insurance company funds are invested in companies whose affiliates produce cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco.

"Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health," said Boyd, a faculty member of Harvard Medical School.

"It's clear their top priority is making money, not safeguarding people's well-being," he wrote.

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Insurance Companies Hold Billions in Tobacco Stocks 

More than a decade after Harvard researchers first revealed that life and health insurance companies were major investors in tobacco stocks – prompting calls upon them to divest – the insurance industry has yet to kick the habit.

A new article on insurance company holdings, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, shows that U.S., Canadian and U.K.-based insurance firms hold at least $4.4 billion of investments in companies whose subsidiaries manufacture cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and related products. . . .

“Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health,” said Dr. J. Wesley Boyd, the lead author of the article. “It's clear their top priority is making money, not safeguarding people's well-being.”

To illustrate their point, Boyd and his colleagues point to Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial Inc., which sells life insurance and long-term disability coverage.

With total tobacco holdings of $264.3 million, Prudential Financial is a major investor in three tobacco firms, including Reynolds American, whose subsidiary R.J. Reynolds manufactures Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, and Philip Morris, maker of the popular Marlboro brand.

Sun Life Financial Inc., based in Toronto, sells life, health, disability and long-term care insurance. It also owns slightly over $1 billion in stock in two tobacco companies, including $890 million in Philip Morris.

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Immunologic Aspects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ($$) 

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of illness and death throughout the world. It affects about 10% of the general population,1 but its prevalence among heavy smokers can reach 50%.2 COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in most industrialized countries, and it is projected to be the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020.1 Tobacco smoking is the primary risk factor for the development of COPD, but other factors, such as burning biomass fuels for cooking and heating, are important causes of COPD in many developing countries.3,4

A principal feature of COPD is a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Mechanisms Leading to COPD

Step 1 -- Initial Response to Cigarette Smoke

Step 2 -- T-Cell Activation and Proliferation

Step 3 -- Adaptive Immune Reaction

Evidence of Autoimmunity in COPD

Why Some Smokers Evade COPD

Conclusions

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HAMBURG/SHARFSTEIN: The FDA as a Public Health Agency 

We are honored to be chosen by President Obama and inspired by his commitment to the FDA and his proposed historic increase to its budget. More than a century ago, his predecessor President Roosevelt could not have foreseen the introduction of modern antibiotics, chemotherapy, and genomic medicine or the potential regulation of tobacco products -- let alone the challenges of the 21st century. The FDA has always been a work in progress. Updating this work means modernizing scientific and legal regulatory approaches to a host of complex matters. Succeeding will require respecting the tradition of the FDA and its mission of public health.

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LETTER: Air Pollution and Life Expectancy ($$) 

To the Editor: In their study of the association between fine-particulate air pollution and life expectancy, Pope et al. (Jan. 22 issue)1 adjusted for changes in the prevalence of smoking in order to determine the contribution of reduced levels of air pollution to an improved life expectancy. As the authors observed previously,2 the effects of smoking on mortality dwarf those of air pollution, since being a current smoker increases the risk of lung cancer by 1480%, as compared with an increase of 8% per increase of 10 µg per cubic meter in fine-particulate pollution.

A potential arithmetic problem arises. Small . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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• Health insurers invest in tobacco 

Canadian and U.S. health insurance companies – including Toronto's Sun Life Financial Inc. – have more than $3 billion (U.S.) invested in the tobacco industry, a letter published today in the New England Journal of Medicine charges.

By refusing to quit their addiction to cigarette profits, the insurers lose any moral right to help set health policy, the letter's Harvard University authors argue.

"Disgusting, depressing, I've heard a lot of words to describe the fact the insurance industry is invested in tobacco," says Dr. Wesley Boyd, the letter's lead author.

"By exposing their investments in tobacco, it pulls the rug out from under them in terms of saying they should be credible players (in health policy discussions)."

Boyd's research shows Sun Life, which markets life, health and disability insurance in Canada and the U.S., has more than $1 billion invested in tobacco firms, with nearly $890 million in Philip Morris USA, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes.

In an email response to the Star, a senior Sun Life official called the information cited in the journal "categorically incorrect" and said the company's "exposure to `tobacco' stocks" was less than 0.005 per cent of an investment portfolio worth "well over" $100 billion. "Notwithstanding the size, diversification and time horizon of our portfolio, Sun Life does not carry significant holdings in tobacco stocks," wrote Michel Leduc, vice-president of public and corporate affairs.

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Swedish Match: cigar margin may top expectations  

* CEO says market may be too pessimistic on cigar margins

* Says plans to raise prices in Sweden in last week in June

* Expects some pressure on margins for snuff

* Credit markets improving, plans more buybacks this yr

Swedish Match's cigar business may be more profitable in the second quarter than analysts expect, its CEO said, after a strong first three months of the year when buyers hoarded supplies to beat a U.S. tax hike.

Lars Dahlgren, chief executive of the tobacco products maker (SWMA.ST), said destocking would add pressure in the second quarter but margins might not fall as sharply some feared.

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Tobacco Bill Faces Governor Jindal, House Committee 

At 9:00 a.m., Monday, June 8th, the Louisiana Healthier Families Act will be heard before the House Ways and Means Committee, announced Speaker Pro Tempore Karen Carter Peterson.

The Louisiana Healthier Families Act was originally introduced before the Ways and Means Committee on April 28, proposing a $1.00 tax increase on tobacco products. However, the measure failed to pass with 7 yeas to 11 nays. The bill is being reintroduced as HB 889, imposing a moderated $0.50 increase on tobacco products.

"I've always been told, 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again,'" said Rep. Peterson.

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SUN EDITORIAL: Healthier than tobacco? 

There’s a new cigarette on the American market whose nicotine can be inhaled anywhere, even in areas governed by “clean indoor air” laws. It comes with a battery.

Electronic cigarettes, manufactured mostly in China, have been for sale in Asian markets for a few years. Now they are making inroads in this country. Sales here by way of the Internet, TV infomercials and mall kiosks have become brisk, according to a New York Times story published this week.

Cartridges that are both refillable and replaceable are the business end of electronic cigarettes, which contain no tobacco and emit an unregulated, seemingly harmless mist but no smoke. The most popular cartridges are those that contain nicotine, the drug craved by tobacco addicts.

The perceived advantage of e-cigarettes is that the hundreds of other harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke are not present. . ./ E-cigarettes are even packed with propylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze and in theater productions to simulate smoke. This gives them a “lit” look. . . .

Nevertheless, e-cigarettes are here and they are growing in popularity. The FDA would be doing the public a service by undertaking a study to determine the extent of their effects on health.

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EDITORIAL: Lawmakers blow it again on raising cigarette tax 

Mired in arguments about how to spend the money, South Carolina lawmakers failed once again to raise the state's last-in-the-nation cigarette tax.

The state tax is stuck at 7 cents a pack, where it's been since 1977. The national average for states is $1.27 a pack. . . .

But while state lawmakers perennially prove their ineffectiveness on this issue, efforts elsewhere give us hope. We've seen local smoking bans spread across the state in the past three years, so much so that it's far more rare to see someone light up in public than it is to enjoy a smoke-free environment.

At the federal level, even more is happening. In April, the federal cigarette tax jumped to $1.01 a pack, up 62 cents a pack.

Now the Senate is debating legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority

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