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BREGEL: Progress slow in choking off smoking rates 

About one in every five residents of Tennessee and Georgia still uses tobacco, studies show, and that's just too many, health advocate say.

Although there has been progress, smoking rates have gone up and down over the past few years in Tennessee, ranging from 27.7 percent in 2002 to 23.1 percent last year, according to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys that states submit to federal health officials.

The Tennessee smoking rate "is not where it needs to be, and it's certainly not a downward trend, so that's what's sort of disappointing," said Dr. Vince Viscomi, a Chattanooga pulmonologist and president of the Chattanooga and Hamilton County Medical Society.

In Georgia, rates are slowing ticking downward . . .

Culturally, Tennesseans have made "incredible progress" in attitudes toward smoking, said Shelley Courington, executive director of the Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee.

"Smoke-free has become the norm here, and who would have thought years ago that that would be possible in Tennessee, in a state where tobacco for years was the No. 1 cash crop?" she said.

Still, low funding has hindered progress, Ms. Courington said. . . .

TENNESSEE QUIT LINE

* 1-800-784-8669

GEORGIA QUIT LINE

* 1-877-270-STOP

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Tenn. ranks 44th in overall health  

Tennessee ranked 44th among states in overall health, but 45th in smoking and 47th in obesity, both of which cause costly preventable diseases, said "America's Health Rankings." . . .

Today's Great American Smokeout challenges people to quit smoking for just one day (with the expectation that more smoke-free days will follow). Local efforts will target both smokers and nonsmokers, said Tyler Peterson, chair of the University of Tennessee Colleges Against Cancer.

The organization's executive committee will be on the campus's pedestrian walkway today with an exhibit tagged "Aren't you sick of walking through smoke?" and marked with smoke machines and chalk outlines of bodies to represent cancer deaths, he said.

The group will have information on cancers and will give out candy to passers-by - Dum Dums for smokers, Smarties for nonsmokers.

But their serious message is "how to quit,"

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33,000 calls received at state quit smoking line  

State health officials say more than 33,000 calls have been received at a toll-free line created more than three years ago to help Tennesseans quit smoking.

The Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine, established in August 2006, is 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

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Smoking cessation program offers childhood cancer survivors help to quit the habit 

As health advocates gear up for this year's Great American Smokeout, childhood cancer survivors who need help with smoking cessation can receive free counseling and nicotine replacement therapy from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

As smokers nationwide struggle to quit the habit, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is offering assistance to those childhood cancer survivors who need help with smoking cessation.

Despite the known health risks of tobacco use, about 18 percent of adults who survived childhood cancer are smokers--an average almost equal to that of the general population. Childhood cancer survivors are more likely to develop second cancers and other conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Smoking adds to their health risks.

"The increase in survival rates for childhood cancer has been one of the most significant successes in cancer during the past three decades," said Robert Klesges, Ph.D., of the St. Jude Epidemiology and Cancer Control department. "However, few researchers have addressed the issue of smoking in cancer survivors. Because the population of childhood cancer survivors is growing each year, St. Jude sought an effective way to help these individuals."

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Healthy States Rankings Put Tennessee, Georgia, & Alabama Near the Bottom 

During the debate about overhauling health care, we've heard very little talk about some of the main reasons we end up in the doctors office.

Today, the United Health Foundation releases its 20th annual report ranking America's health, and Tennessee, Georgia, & Alabama appear near the bottom.

Tennessee ranks 44th due to obesity and smoking.� Georgia ranks 43rd due to the number of residents with infectious diseases.� While Alabama made the list at 48th because of obesity and air pollution.

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EDITORIAL: Better health, take charge: Dangers of tobacco use in any form can't be overstated  

Secondhand smoke hurts those we love. Pregnant women who smoke risk miscarriage. Children exposed to smoke have more asthma and other health problems. Older people exposed to smoke have more heart attacks.

Smoking is still a big problem in Tennessee and in the Mid-South. Nearly one-fourth of all white women and nearly one-fifth of all of African-American women in Tennessee still smoke cigarettes. In 2007, about one-fourth of all men in Tennessee were smokers.

The American Lung Association considers Memphis America's sixth-worst city for asthma. Cigarette smoke can be very harmful to people who have asthma or other breathing problems.

A 2007 study showed that two out of five city school teens have smoked cigarettes. Tobacco is often a "gateway drug." Teens who try cigarettes are often tempted to try alcohol, marijuana and other illegal drugs.

Many laws and prevention activities have reduced tobacco use. Taxes on cigarettes have risen sharply in many states, encouraging many smokers to quit.

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News in brief - Nov. 16, 2009: Proposed medical school gets donation of tobacco settlement funds  

A proposal to build a new medical school and health sciences center at King College in Bristol, Tenn., received a major funding boost on Oct. 29 when the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission granted $25 million to the enterprise.

Plans to build the medical school were announced about a year ago by the college president. It is expected to cost $100 million to $150 million to complete, with an opening possible in 2012.

The grant stipulates that the medical school be constructed in Virginia. The twin cities of Bristol, Tenn., and Bristol, Va., abut each other on the Tennessee-Virginia state line, with King College falling on the Tennessee side.

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• Cancer hits Tennesseans hard  

Tennesseans die of cancer at the fifth-worst rate in the nation.

What kills them most frequently is cigarettes, but a powerful mix of misinformation and denial also drives up the death count.

A Tennessean examination that included dozens of interviews with doctors, cancer experts and patients across the state found health professionals frequently encounter people who have ignored symptoms for months or even years before going to a doctor. A lack of urgency or confusion about routine cancer screenings, coupled with misconceptions about treatment and even a fatalistic acceptance of the disease, leads to cancers being diagnosed too late to be treated successfully.

"There's a personal value system, a thought process that says, 'It can't be me,' and an incredibly complicated health system," said Mary Jane Dewey, director of the state Health Department's sole free cancer screening program. "Even people with insurance can't understand their policies."

Lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers are the most commonly diagnosed in the state. In the 2001-05 reporting period, more Tennesseans died from lung cancer — 20,629 victims — than from the other three combined. . . .

But money can be an issue. The Tennessee legislature put $10 million into smoking prevention and cessation programs for the first time for the 2007-08 fiscal year, but then halved that the following year. This year, the state's tobacco control program is running on a $1.5 million budget, all but $300,000 of that from a Centers for Disease Control grant.

The money pays for the state's 1-800-QUIT-NOW line, which matches smokers with counselors to help them quit, and literature.

But anti-smoking advocates look most longingly at the state's $4.8 billion settlement with tobacco companies, which it began receiving in annual payments in 1999. The legislature voted to put the money into the general fund; none into anti-smoking programs. Tennessee has collected $1.9 billion to date.

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Lung cancer leading cause of cancer death in women 

Blount Memorial Cancer Center Director Carmen McCloud says the Cancer Center had 86 female patients who suffered from lung cancer in the last two years. She said smoking caused 90 percent of those lung cancer cases. Thursday is Great American Smokeout Day, which is a good time to think about giving up tobacco products, she says.

"The Great American Smokeout is a day to stop smoking and change your life. On Thursday, free information on how to quit smoking will be available in the hospital's outpatient lobby between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.," McCloud adds.

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), within 20 minutes of quitting smoking, blood pressure drops to normal, pulse slows to normal and the temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal.

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Smokers take heat for dumping cigarette butt 

Smokers have been driven like outcasts to the front of offices, hospitals and restaurants so that they don't taint other peoples' lungs.

Now they're under fire for another environmental scourge: cigarette-butt litter.

The dead filters -- dark after use with scores of chemicals and heavy metals -- clutter landscaping, litter office entrances, line gutters and wash into streams.

A monthlong initiative in Hillsboro Village this fall, complete with signs and cigarette-butt receptacles, reduced the cigarette trash by about 40 percent, according to the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The effort was made possible by a $1,500 grant.

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Turning An Eyesore Into Art: Analysis of Organic Compounds Leached From Cigarette Litter (PDF) 

Every year approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced. Because of the health risk of second hand smoke, more smokers are being forced outside where they are more likely to toss their butts out on the ground. These butts are composed of unsmoked tobacco, paper, and cellulose acetate filter. The filters are designed to trap harmful chemicals and particulate matter. The cellulose acetate filter does not readily biodegrade and can persist in the environment for After filtration, a series of liquid-liquid extractions were performed to isolate certain groups of analytes. The organic extraction phases are still undergoing analysis.

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• Not Just an Eyesore: Analysis of Metals Leached from Smoked Cigarette Litter (PDF) 

Cigarette filters are designed to absorb vapors and particulate matter, many of which are considered harmful to smokers, from mainstream cigarette smoke. Each of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarettes butts littered each year worldwide, therefore, is a potential point source for environmental pollution. In areas with substantial amounts of cigarette litter, serious environmental hazards may exist as the compounds absorbed from the mainstream smoke are leached out of the butts. Although the compounds and their concentrations in cigarettes and mainstream smoke have been extensively researched, few studies have attempted to identify and quantify the components leached from cigarette butts. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of 12 selected metals leached from cigarette butts and whole cigarettes in aqueous solutions with the initial pH of 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 ± 0.1. These pH-values were chosen based on the typical pH range of rainfall and were used to investigate the relationship between pH and leaching. Leachates were analyzed 1 day, 7 days, and 34 days after sample addition to assess the relationship between soaking time and leaching. The resulting leachates were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) for the following metals: aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), strontium (Sr), titanium (Ti), and zinc (Zn). Based on comparisons with drinking-water standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Cd and Pb were proposed as the primary toxicants in cigarette litter leachates.

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NO Butts campaign works in Hillsboro Village 

Smokers are thinking twice before they flick cigarette butts on the ground in Hillsboro Village.

A new anti-litter campaign has resulted in a nearly 40 percent reduction of cigarette butts along the sidewalks in the area, Metro Public Works officials say.

The Metro Beautification and Environment Commission, along with the Hillsboro Village Merchants Association, launched the "Please NO Butts in the Village" campaign in September.

Using funds from a $1,500 grant sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Metro Beautification provided posters for Hillsboro Village merchants to display in their windows and limited supplies of pocket ashtrays for customers.

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Smokers take heat for dumping cigarette butts 

A monthlong initiative in Hillsboro Village this fall, complete with signs and cigarette-butt receptacles, reduced the cigarette trash by about 40 percent, according to the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission. The effort was made possible by a $1,500 grant.

The commission is looking for other areas of town to take part in the program and says that just about anywhere could use it.

"It's horrible," said Barbara Mathieson, Metro Beautification chairwoman, describing what she and her husband found on a hike from Bellevue to downtown.

"It looked like someone had paved the sides of the road with cigarette butts," Mathieson said. "It kind of hit me in the face with the problem."

The slovenly practice, which the $50 fine in Tennessee has not halted, is not exclusive to the South.

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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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