Tobacco.org

Robert Moran: Smoking — legal and smoky environments  

Nov. 19 is the American Cancer Society's 32nd annual Great American Smokeout. In support, "Thinking about Salem" will address smoking in three columns highlighting significant developments and research findings published from September 2008 through August 2009.

Legal environment

It was a momentous year. On June 22, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act became law. It gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) extensive authorities to regulate tobacco for public health purposes. . . .

The industry took a knee to its pocketbook just before Christmas. The Supreme Court ruled smokers could sue manufactures who advertised cigarettes as “light” for fraud. At trial, plaintiffs successfully argued manufactures knew people smoking reduced tar and nicotine cigarettes would alter their smoking habits to extract as much tar and nicotine from “lights” as they got from full-strengths. This ruling bodes badly for tobacco in an ongoing racketeering case. In July, a three-judge panel from the Federal Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a 2006 conviction of tobacco companies for conspiring to suppress evidence smoking is harmful. Along with huge fines ($280 billion), the trial court prohibited advertising any cigarette as “light.” If tobacco appeals its racketeering conviction to the Supreme Court, as the financial press reports it will, court-watchers think it will fare badly.

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Lung Cancer Awareness Month is November each year 

Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM) is a national campaign dedicated to increasing attention to lung cancer issues. By organizing rallies, distributing educational material, holding fund-raising events, contacting Congress, and speaking to the media, those involved in LCAM bring much-needed support and attention to a disease that each year kills more people than breast, prostate, colon and pancreas cancers combined.

Here's how you can participate!

Raise Awareness You can raise awareness about lung cancer where you live in many ways during November:

* Sponsor an event to bring your community together around lung cancer.

* Gain official attention for lung cancer with petitions, proclamations, and more!

* Distribute LCA's Public Service Announcement to local media

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• November Is Lung Cancer Awareness Month 

More people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer. In 2004,* lung cancer accounted for more deaths than breast, prostate, and colon cancer combined. The most important thing you can do to prevent lung cancer is to not start smoking or to quit if you currently smoke.

In 2004,*

* 108,355 men and 87,897 women were diagnosed with lung cancer.†

* 89,575 men and 68,431 women died from lung cancer.†

Smoking and Secondhand Smoke

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‘Great American Smokeout’ in Washington promotes Lung Cancer Awareness Month 

Pictured is an image from last year's Great American Smokeout in downtown Washington. This year's event will be held Nov. 19. WASHINGTON -- November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the "Great American Smokeout."

What a terrific time to draw attention to an ever-increasing issue that faces many New Jersey (and Warren County) residents, says Community Prevention Resources of Warren County, Inc.'s Leeanne Del Prado, Community Partnerships Coordinator for a Tobacco Free NJ. . . .

"We, as a community, cannot ignore the statistics nor can we deny the direct correlations to tobacco usage and sickness and death," said Del Prado. "We should commemorate efforts to stop smoking and recognize that lung cancer is fatal sickness in Warren County by supporting a smoke free environment. Your efforts can make a bigger difference than you think."

If you or someone you know would like to quit smoking and needs assistance, contact Leeanne Del Prado at Community Prevention Resources of Warren County, Inc. 908-835-1800. For further information about Community Prevention Resources, visit www.communitypreventionresources.org.

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CCS: Don't let your financial future go up in smoke 

The impact of smoking on your health is well documented, but counselors at Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of East Tennessee know that it can also wreak havoc on a person's financial health. Whether it's helping people struggling with credit card debt or trying to avoid foreclosure, counselors find that tobacco use adds a significant amount to monthly household expenditures and they advise consumers to consider reducing or quitting smoking to save money.

A pack-a-day smoker spending an average of $5.15 per pack could save $1,879 per year by quitting smoking. These funds could be used to cover living expenses, reduce household debt or start a savings plan. Invested in a basic savings plan paying just 3 percent interest, you would have in excess of $21,000 after 10 years. Over 30 years, that figure climbs to more than $91,000.

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Wenatchee teens take part in state smoking study  

Wenatchee High School students were part of a teen smoking study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The study, published in mid-October, was the first time researchers proved that one-on-one counseling makes a significant difference in teen smoking rates.

“When this study started, despite decades of research and dozens of intervention trials, there was no proven way to reach teens from the general population and recruit them into smoking cessation programs, and there was no proven way to help these teens quit,” said lead researcher Arthur Peterson in a prepared statement.

Statewide, more than 2,000 students at 50 high schools participated in the study.

Half of the schools, including Wenatchee High School, were control schools. With parental consent, students from the Class of 2005 took a survey about smoking habits and attitudes during their junior year, and again in their senior year. . . .

By the end of the study, about 22 percent of the smokers in counseling had stopped smoking for six continuous months, compared to nearly 18 percent of smokers at the control high schools, according to a news release from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Intervention also increased three-month, one-month and seven-day smoking abstinence rates compared to the control group.

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Great American Smokeout 

The 34th Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, is scheduled to take place Nov. 19. The purpose of the event is to set aside day to help smokers quit smoking, quit using tobacco products, for at least one day, with the hope they will decide to quit completely.

The Great American Smokeout began in 1971 when a Massachusetts resident asked people to give up smoking for a day and to donate the money they would have spent on tobacco to a local high school.

The best way to prevent lung cancer is to never start smoking at all. . . .

Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas Cancer Council encourage all smokers to take part in the Great American Smokeout on Nov. 19 in a step to eventually quit smoking.

For more information, contact Rita M. Hodges, county extension agent for family and consumer sciences, 701 S. Interstate 35E, Suite 3, Waxahachie; call 972-825-5175; or e-mail rmhodges@ag.tamu.edu.

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LETTER: Smoking: Cessation programs can work 

I'm writing in response to the editorial, "Secondhand smoke: New study, same message."

The Florida Academy of Family Physicians represents 4,000 family physicians, residents in training and medical students.

Family physicians are the first line of defense in helping their patients quit smoking.

We've known for years that smoking is harmful, not only to the smokers' health, but it also negatively affects the health of the public. Family members, coworkers, friends or anyone else who comes in contact with the tobacco smoke can be adversely affected.

Florida implemented a statewide smoking ban on indoor workplaces seven years ago.

It is an important step to protect the public's health, but it's not enough. We also need to do more to help smokers quit.

According to the Florida Adult Tobacco Survey, almost half of Florida smokers report they've tried to quit smoking in the past year, and nearly 60 percent say they plan to quit within the next six months. However, without smoking cessation counseling and treatment, only 5 percent will succeed at overcoming their addiction. . . .

Smokers should know that there is help available and that they don't have to quit on their own. The implications of not helping smokers quit not only affects smokers, but nonsmokers, too.

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LETTER: Protect anti-smoking funds  

The New York State Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program is a highly successful, world-class tobacco prevention effort that saves lives and prevents kids from smoking. As a result, youth smoking rates in the state were the lowest on record at 14.7 percent.

The Tobacco Control budget has been cut by 20 percent within the past year. Research and experience demonstrates that reducing funding to state tobacco-control programs can quickly slow or reverse gains. According to research, the 20 percent budget cut will result in a 1.3 percent increase in youth smoking rates, which means an estimated 16,000 more New York youth will grow up to become addicted adult smokers. Maintaining funding for tobacco control is a wise and effective instrument in the health of New York. Let's work to keep our next generation smoke-free.

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AUDIO: Free Service That Helps Smokers Quit Reaches Milestone  

SAN DIEGO -- A free phone service designed to help Californians quit smoking has received its 500,000 call. The UCSD-based help line has been in operation since 1992.

The California Smokers' Helpline offers self-help materials, and referrals to smoking cessation programs throughout the state.

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Ministry ban in place 

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 6: Visiting your daughter or son at school? Then better stub out that cigarette and throw away the gutkha packet.

State's school and college campuses will soon be tobacco free zones, according to a notification that has been sent to the state education department. The news of the notification was confirmed by health minister Prasanna Acharaya today.

The move came after Union health ministry imposed a guideline prohibiting sale and consumption of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutes.

"Teachers, parents or visitors on campuses will have to abide by the rule, along with students," said a visibly elated anti-tobacco activist Itishree Kanungo of Aparajita.

"An alarming proportion of school personnel use tobacco and students often imitate them. More alarmingly, there has been an increasing rise of tobacco use among girls. The ban should help prevent the birth of more addicts," she added.

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AUSIO: Roundtable for Nov. 5 - Smoking ban passes, open enrollemnt and how you can help military families 

Posted 5:50 p.m. Fri., Nov. 6 - In this week's Beacon Roundtable, Dick Weiss, Mary Delach Leonard, Elia Powers and Dale Singer sit down to talk about the passage of the smoking ban in St. Louis County

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Medical, or small business?  

Michael Dresden holds high expectations for Washington’s marijuana trade. Dresden’s vision is to use local, sustainable and highly taxed micro-crops of marijuana to eliminate the state’s deficit and fight international terrorism. Despite Dresden’s lofty goals, many may view the twenty-something Vancouver resident as a simple drug dealer with delusions of grandeur.

Dresden, whose name and date of birth varied on each of the six Washington state ID cards he presented during a recent interview, uses a straight forward business model. Dresden collects what he describes as “surplus” marijuana from state licensed medical marijuana growers and distributes it to recreational cannabis users at a sizable mark up. . . .

Dresden’s greatest business fear is a tobacco industry take-over of the marijuana trade. “Sooner or later, the tobacco industry will get tired of its dwindling profits and will use its entire army of lobbyists to control the marijuana trade” Dresden stated. Dresden fears tobacco companies will lobby for laws and regulation that give exclusive marijuana grow rights to mega-corporations. “I think what will happen is that congress will place so-called ‘safe-guards’ in a future legalization [of marijuana] bill that really just give large international corporations a monopoly of marijuana.” Dresden’s concerns of a tobacco industry takeover have been around for decades and gained credibility when a 1976 document surfaced during a 1990’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

A 1976 confidential tobacco industry forecast prepared by Forecasting International, Ltd for Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation made direct references to national trends in recreational marijuana use and the tobacco industry’s ability to offer marijuana as a retail product. “[Marijuana] also has important implications for the tobacco industry in terms of an alternative product line. [Tobacco industries] have the land to grow it, the machines to roll it and package it [and] the distribution to market it… Estimates indicate that the market in legalized marijuana might be as high as $10 billion annually." the report stated. . . .

Dresden believes a tobacco industry changeover to marijuana would pose insurmountable competition for Northwest marijuana growers. “When the tobacco industry starts to switch over to marijuana, it will use the same locations, equipment and tactics that is has used for tobacco… Southern states will get the employment and tax benefits and the traditional Northwest trade will be destroyed.” Dresden stated. Dresden’s concerns also include product quality and environmental impact. “Look at what large corporations did to tobacco, the additives, the genetic modification, the use of environmentally harmful fertilizers and pesticides; do we really want them to be in charge of future marijuana farms?” Dresden asked rhetorically.

The idea of switching over tobacco farms to hemp or marijuana has gained momentum in the face of declining tobacco sales and the current economic recession.

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• FDA Warns Companies against Marketing Illegal Flavored Cigarettes 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is enforcing the flavored cigarette ban provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) by issuing several warning letters to companies continuing to sell illegal flavored cigarettes to consumers in the United States through their Web sites.

The warning letters directed the companies to cease the marketing and sale of these products immediately or to take other appropriate action to bring the products into compliance with the law. Failure to do so may result in additional regulatory actions such as seizure or injunction. In addition, FDA requested a written response from each of the companies within 15 days outlining the corrective actions taken.

Enforcement of the flavored cigarette ban is FDA’s effort to remove cigarettes that contain certain candy or fruit flavors from the marketplace. Removal of these products from the market will assist in the prevention of children and adolescents from starting to smoke and in the reduction in death and disease caused by smoking.

“FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously,” said Lawrence R. Deyton, M.S.P.H, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.” . . .

Report possible violations of the flavored cigarette ban: www.fda.gov/flavoredtobacco

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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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