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Because tobacco use impairs military readiness, harms the health of soldiers and veterans, and imposes a substantial financial burden on the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, these agencies should implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve the Defense Department's stated goal of a tobacco-free military, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. DOD should gradually phase in a ban on tobacco use in the military, starting at military academies and officer training programs and among new recruits, the report says. DOD should also stop selling tobacco products in Army and Air Force commissaries -- Navy and Marine Corps commissaries already do not sell them -- and should stop selling them at a discount in military exchanges and other stores. In addition, Congress should allow VA to establish tobacco-free medical centers.
The report was requested by DOD and VA, who asked the Institute of Medicine to identify policies and practices that could lower rates of smoking and help soldiers and veterans quit.
Tobacco use reduces soldiers' physical fitness and endurance and is linked to higher rates of absenteeism and lost productivity, the report says. In 2005, 32 percent of active-duty personnel and 22 percent of veterans were smokers; rates among active-duty personnel have recently increased, possibly because of growing tobacco use by deployed troops.
"We found that the adverse effects of tobacco use on military readiness, the health of both smokers and nonsmokers, and the financial cost of the medical care of smoking-related illness in military and veteran populations are a sound basis for moving systematically toward a tobacco-free military," said Stuart Bondurant, professor of medicine and dean emeritus of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "The state of the art in tobacco control is such that with well-managed programs, DOD and VA could eventually be tobacco free with minimal disruption, and with substantial benefit to military personnel and veterans."
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TABLE OF CONTENTS . . .
13-20 (skim) 2 SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM 21-52 (skim)
3 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE TOBACCO USE 53-78 (skim)
4 TOBACCO-CONTROL PROGRAMS: EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES 79-132 (skim)
5 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TOBACCO-CONTROL ACTIVITIES 133-174 (skim)
6 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TOBACCO-CONTROL ACTIVITIES
South Dakota bars and restaurants were supposed to go smoke free next week. But those plans were snuffed out Thursday after Secretary of State Chris Nelson said opponents of the statewide smoking ban collected enough signatures to put the issue on the 2010 ballot.
Those who support a statewide smoking ban aren't calling a 2010 vote official just yet. That's because the group has a week to comb through all of the signatures themselves to make sure there are enough valid names on the petition.
But, for opponents of a statewide smoking ban having thousands of signatures certified in time to delay the smoke free law in South Dakota is a victory itself.
"It's a relief. It's a lot of work to get that many signatures and we relied on volunteers," petition drive organizer Larry Mann said.
He and almost a dozen of his support personnel, investigators and deputies, along with other city and county employees, were halfway through their series of tobacco cessation classes.
And they hadn't lost that focused intensity they all brought to the initial session, either. They were still intent on solving this case of how to quit using tobacco.
After the second class, the group received their first prescription for Chantix, a prescription medication used to help people quit smoking. . . .
But just as the effects of smoking are bad on Nugent himself, the effects of his second-hand smoke (also called Environmental Tobacco Smoke or ETS) are dangerous to his family members - and that includes Amber, the Sheriff's bloodhound, if she happens to be around cigarette smoke while with Nugent. . . .
New studies are showing that pets get dosed with poisons from tobacco smoke in two ways: through second-hand smoke and by ingesting the actual smoke particles when they groom themselves, which is being labeled third-hand smoke. . . .
And the licking of things is also a heretofore undetected source of smoke carcinogens for babies, too.
An article in Pediatrics Magazine in the beginning of this year highlighted the risk to pregnant women and babies of third-hand smoke. . . .
An article published in July 2005 in the world-renowned medical journal Lancet indicated that private research conducted by the Philip Morris cigarette company in the 1980s showed that second-hand smoke was highly toxic. Yet the company suppressed the findings during the next two decades.
So the Surgeon General's report was right: there is absolutely no risk-free level of second-hand smoke exposure - to any living thing, especially children, pets and other people living with a smoker.
Canada's illegal cigarette trade is soaring out of control -- and governments at all levels are reluctant to do anything about it. . . .
With cigarettes selling illegally for as little as $10 a carton, it's mostly kids who are buying.
"They're recruiting youth to transport the cigarettes from the Akwesasne Mohawk territory to smoke shacks in other aboriginal communities," Harvey said.
In one case, a 17 year-old girl was making $6,000 a week doing that and used the money to finance her drug addiction.
"The general public sees this as sticking it to the tax man and that it's their right to buy cigarettes at low prices (because) the government is over-taxing them," he said. "They are really financing organized crime groups, who are using this money to produce drugs such as Ectasy and meth labs across Canada."
I don't smoke. I don't like people to smoke around me. But if people are going to buy a legal product, they should do so legally. This week, the UN said Canada is a "primary source" of Ecstasy and methamphetamines.
As long as governments refuse to deal with the illicit tobacco trade, we'll continue to be the party drug dealer of choice to the world.
Here's a look back at what he's said about his addiction through the years.
December 24, 2005: In an article by the Chicago Tribune's Jeff Zeleny, Obama discussed his struggles with cigarettes. "The flesh is weak. It's an ongoing battle. I have my gum, my patches and all that stuff."
November 18, 2006: In an interview with the AP, Obama revealed, "I'm struggling with [cigarettes]. I've quit before. It's one of those habits that creep up when you're stressed and you have to shake it off. It's not something I'm proud of."
February 6, 2007: Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Obama said, "I've never been a heavy smoker. I've quit periodically over the last several years. I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously."
One in every 25 deaths worldwide can be linked to diseases or injuries related to alcohol consumption, concludes a Canadian-led study, which equates the libation's burden of harm to that of smoking almost a decade ago.
In 2004, the most recent year for which global statistics are available, 3.8 per cent of all deaths were attributable to alcohol (6.3 per cent for men and 1.8 per cent for women), the study found.
Most of the deaths blamed on booze result from injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disorders like cirrhosis and violence, say the authors, whose study is one in a series of papers on the global impact of alcohol published in The Lancet this week. . . .
"Worldwide, more people abstain than drink," principal researcher Jurgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said Thursday. . . .
Rehm said the global burden of disease from drinking is about the same size as that of smoking in 2000 (tobacco use rates have been steadily dropping in some countries due to public health measures), but is sure to get worse as more people add wine, beer and spirits to their list of libations. "The big message is treat alcohol like tobacco," not as a substance that is relatively benign except for "those bad alcoholics," he said. "That is not true, neither for Canada nor globally."
KUALA LUMPUR: Cuepacs is ignoring the rights of non-smokers when it opposed the Public Service Department's stand on no-smoking at government departments and agencies.
Prof Dr Rahmat Awang of Universiti Sains Malaysia's National Poison Centre and Malaysian Trades Union Congress adviser on indoor air quality Dr T. Jayabalan said Cuepacs must be seen to serve the rights of non-smokers as much as it wanted to protect the rights of smokers.
They said it had been proven that ventilation systems could not filter the particles and gases in tobacco smoke to safe levels. . . .
They were responding Cuepacs' call to PSD not to impose a blanket ban on smoking in government premises but to provide smokers with designated smoking areas. It was reported in a local daily recently that the PSD would monitor the no-smoking rule at government premises. The PSD had also said government servants were prohibited from smoking in government premises.
Dr Rahmat said the notion that designated smoking areas was a responsible alternative to a smoking ban was flawed.
Contrary to their reputation, fewer Scottish teenagers are smoking, drinking and - amongst boys at least - taking cannabis than they were two years ago, official figures released yesterday show.
However, the 2008 Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey does show changes in habits which may worry health experts. While the use of drink and drugs continues to decline, those who do partake are highly likely to truant or be excluded from school.
There is also disappointment that despite the rise in the minimum purchase age for cigarettes from 16 to 18 in 2007, rates of smoking among 15-year-old boys have increased. . . .
Where cigarettes were concerned, the numbers of 13 and 15-year-old girls who are regular smokers continues to decline. The proportion of pupils who reported they never smoked has gone up from 69 to 75 per cent of 13-year-olds and 47 to 51 per cent of 15-year-olds.
However, although it is illegal to sell cigarettes to children under the age of 18, 42 per cent of 13-year-old regular smokers and 57 per cent of 15-year-old regular smokers reported buying cigarettes from a shop. A significant number also bought from vending machines.
Family and peer group pressure was evident: the majority of children who smoked had parents who did, and more than a third said all or almost all their friends smoked.
Three in five independent retailers are aware that adults are buying cigarettes for children, but feel powerless to prevent them as it is not against the law.
The revelation, part of a comprehensive study by the Tobacco Retailers Alliance (TRA), which represents 26,000 UK independent retailers, demonstrates the pressing need to outlaw the proxy purchasing of tobacco and address the real routes of supply to under-18s.
Darlington independent retailer John Abbott said the government should stop wasting time on "unproven gimmicks" such as banning tobacco displays and focus on issues that would help reduce youth smoking.
Mahendra Jadeja, who runs a newsagents in London, said proxy purchasing was a "massive problem" for retailers.
Kolkata In keeping with the Supreme Court order, cigarette packs with pictorial warnings covering at least 40 per cent of the front of the packet made their entry in city outlets on Thursday.
Cigarettes manufactured by the Hyderabad-based VST Industries Ltd under the brand name "Special" carried a picture of smoke-damaged lungs with the warning "Smoking Kills" in white on a red background above it, and another warning beside the picture that said "Tobacco Causes Cancer".
The Union government had assured the apex court last month that it would ensure pictorial warnings like the skull and cross bones or a cancer-disfigured face were carried on cigarettes packets and other tobacco products from May 31 onwards under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Packing and Labeling) Rules, 2008.