Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
In world exclusive photos, the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reveals that cancer-stricken Patrick Swayze IS STILL SMOKING, even as he undergoes radical chemotherapy to save his life.
In photos taken on March 10, after he left Stanford Cancer Center, Swayze is shown with a cigarette in his mouth moments before he boarded his plane at San Carlos Airport.
These are the first photos of Swayze since his diagnosis. The star has been a three-pack-a-day smoker for years, and smoking is one of the major risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Smokers are twice as likely to get the disease as non-smokers.
Jump to full article »
A virtual memorial for Israelis who have died of diseases resulting from smoking has been established on the Internet by the Israel Cancer Association (ICA).
Relatives can give the names of smokers who died of cancer of the lungs, colon, mouth and throat, bladder, kidney, cervix and pancreas and of heart disease and stroke by fax to (03)732-2780 or by e-mail via the ICA Web site at www.cancer.org.il.
An Irish publican has become the first bar owner in the country to be successfully prosecuted for breaking the government's pioneering smoking ban, court officials say.
Padraig Folan, owner of the Ti Hanrai pub in the village of Lettermore in the far west of Ireland, was fined 1,200 euros (800 pounds) and ordered to pay 500 euros in costs for failing to enforce the ban.
Cats that live with people who smoke are at least twice as likely to develop lymphoma as are cats in smoke-free homes, a new study has found. When you factor in other variables - the number of smokers in the house, how many packs smoked per day - the risk can rise nearly fourfold.
The study could offer insight into whether there is a link between passive smoking and non-Hodgkins lymphoma in humans, which is similar to lymphoma in cats. Though that link has yet to be studied, Dr. Kim Cronin of the New England Veterinary Oncology Group in Waltham says this is what gives the study such significance.
There's no doubt that it means something important for cats. Lymphoma, after all, is the most common cat cancer.
New cancer research findings may resonate with with animal lovers who smoke: Living in a household with smokers substantially increases the cat's risk of acquiring feline lymphoma. The disease kills three-fourths of its victims within a year.
The findings of Tufts University and University of Massachusetts researchers reinforces the widely held concerns over second-hand smoke exposure to humans. Scientists hope that smokers who might not quit the habit to protect themselves or another family member might think twice about lighting up to safeguard a beloved pet. That's wishful thinking, but then it's worthwhile to exploit any excuse that persuades someone to give up smoking.
"Cats basically hang around inside the house, so they don't get exposed to as many possible environmental hazards," he said. "You can often smell the smoke on their fur, and when you consider that they're grooming all the time with their tongues, they're probably getting a fairly significant dose."
For the study, which was published in the August issue of The American Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers surveyed the owners of 80 cats with lymphoma and 114 cats with renal disease, which strikes cats at about the same age but is not linked to environmental factors.
They found not only that all cats exposed to tobacco smoke had a far higher risk of lymphoma, but also that the risk was directly related to how much smoke was in the house and how long the cat had been exposed.
Dr. Moore said that the study had been undertaken mainly to explore ways of preventing lymphoma in cats, but he added that he hoped it would raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco in a new way.
"People often think of their cats as members of their family, and they should realize that when we smoke we are increasing the risks faced by those around us," he said. "If we can prevent this disease in cats, I'd be happy. If in doing so we can decrease the risk of cancer in people, I'd be doubly happy."
Pets don't trot over to the convenience store for a pack of cigarettes, but they can suffer the effects of second-hand smoke.
A Cumberland County cat is heading the effort to protect animals from having to breathe second-hand smoke. Reggie K. Mosley of Deerfield Township is an honorary member of the Communities Against Tobacco Coalition of Cumberland County and "chairpet" of The Kitty Cat Project.
Each month, Reggie compiles a free monthly newsletter for Protesting Environmental Tobacco Smoke (PETS), which includes an advice column for animals that must deal with second-hand smoke or butts on the ground where they go for walks. Reggie has been interviewed for a few area newspapers and the CN8 cable news channel.
OK, Reggie has some help from her owner, Donna Mosley, in the above activities. But she is New Jersey's first feline anti-tobacco activist, and her goal is to provide clean indoor air for pets by helping humans quit smoking. She also asks veterinarians and pet stores to hand out literature to let humans know that smoking isn't good for their pets.
A veterinarian went so far as to say that some who keep cats might quit smoking for their pets if not for themselves or others in their families.
That's a bit distressing. Nothing against pets, but in no way, shape or form should their well being be put on the same level as that of humans.
Even so, if concern for a cat prompts someone to quite smoking, all the better for them and whoever might be around. . .
Anyone who persists in smoking is tempting fate just as surely as someone who holds a loaded gun to their head.
If the motivation to quit occurs because of love for a cat, all the better for the smoker and for everyone.
Cats exposed to many years of secondhand smoke have a higher risk of developing a deadly form of lymphoma than cats living in tobacco-free homes, new study findings show.
Dr. Elizabeth R. Bertone of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her colleagues found that cats that shared a household with a smoker at any time in their lives were more than twice as likely to develop malignant lymphoma than cats that never lived with a smoker.
Researchers have suggested that malignant lymphoma in domestic cats may serve as a model for another type of lymphoma in humans, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Previous studies have found conflicting evidence as to whether smoking is linked to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in humans, but the results from the current study suggest that the link may, in fact, exist.
"Our study suggests that exposure to household environmental tobacco smoke may increase the risk of malignant lymphoma in pet cats, " Bertone and her colleagues write.
IN Sant Agata, a small village in the mountains near Sorrento, there is a caf with a large mural of a cat smoking a cigarette. Pudding reveals the secret of long life
In the Swinging Sixties, the cat would arrive at 7pm every evening, take his regular seat and, if offered a cigarette, would puff happily away. Photographs on the wall suggest that there was no shortage of people offering him fags. . .
For today's Times reports that cats whose owners smoke live shorter lives as a consequence of acquiring feline lymphoma. The RSPCA describes the finding as "important", but the novelist Beryl Bainbridge, who is well known for her enjoyment of both cigarettes and alcohol, is not convinced.
"I used to own two cats, Pudding and Gerald, but I don't think they suffered any ill-effects from my smoking," she says. "They both lived until 20."
Testimony to the harmlessness of second-hand tobacco smoke, it appears. Or to the restorative qualities of gin.
University of Sydney graduate Antony Moore yesterday published the results of a seven-year study into passive smoking and cat cancer.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, shows that tobacco smoke is a cat killer. . .
A pet oncology expert with the University of Queensland, Rod Straw, said an earlier study had found passive smoking could be linked to lung cancer in dogs.
"It is interesting they have found this link, and it could be a good impetus for people not to smoke," he said.
"Often people say they are not concerned about their own health, but maybe they will care about their pet." . .
Cirrith, the cat who has lived with Newtown chef Tim Bootes for seven years, seems to be in good health, despite Mr Bootes's pack-a-day habit.
Cirrith "hates the smell" when he lights up.
But Mr Bootes, 26, has no plans to quit in light of the new research findings. "She just leaves the room if it gets too smoky."
A vet hopes people will be persuaded to stop smoking to prevent their cats from getting cancer.
Dr Antony Moore from Tufts University in Massachusetts says living in a house with smokers considerably increases a cat's risk of getting feline lymphoma.
The cancer kills three quarters of its victims within a year.
Mr Moore hopes new research linking second-hand smoke exposure to the most common kind of feline cancer will encourage some people to kick the habit.
[GRAPHIC: Man and Woman are sitting on a couch. The Man is smoking a pipe. On the floor in front of them, a Cat is dragging an oversize pack of "Nicorette".
WOMAN: "Look What the cat dragged in."]
However, prominent cat owners and smokers were divided about the findings.
The writer Beryl Bainbridge, who smokes 30 a day, said: "I used to own two cats, Pudding and Gerald, but I don't think they suffered any ill-effects from my smoking. They both lived until 20. If I had cats now I would have no qualms about smoking in front of them although I might mention to them that I was a smoker."
Jilly Cooper, who has four cats, said her pets had been healthier since she gave up smoking. "I was a smoker when I first married and our cats live much longer now that we don't smoke," she said.