Tobacco Articles: category cancer

Man with no jaw blames tobacco, urges state to boost tax

lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com (Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Bureau) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

COLUMBUS -- Rick Bender sat on a stage at the Ohio Statehouse fiddling with a chewing tobacco can as people stared at his disfigured face. Bender is used to it. He does this kind of thing on purpose. For the last 17 years, Bender has traveled the country, warning people of the dangers of tobacco use. Bender grew up in Kentucky and California and started using chewing tobacco at age 12. By age 26 in 1989, doctors diagnosed him with oral cancer, took out a third of his tongue and half his jaw, and told him he had two years to live. Bender joined anti-tobacco groups on Wednesday, March 17, in urging Ohio lawmakers to double the state cigarette tax to $2.50 per pack and boost taxes on smokeless products such as chewing tobacco and then dedicating the increased revenues for smoking prevention programs. "Our young people are hungry for information out there, gang," Bender told supporters.

Cancer Costs More Than Doubled in 40-Year Fight (Update2)

egibson9@bloomberg.net (Ellen Gibson) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

The rising cost of cancer research and care, which helped reduce death rates by 16 percent over 40 years, is straining the U.S. health system and needs to be restrained, commentators said in a special edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Cancer research has cost the U.S. government $100 billion since 1971 and the price of care, accounting for inflation, has more than doubled to $90 billion since 1990, according to six journal reports that raise key questions about the past and future success of the U.S. “War on Cancer,” announced by then- President Richard Nixon in 1971. The reduced death rates result from anti-smoking campaigns, early disease detection and new drugs . . . The main driver of progress has been public-health messages about tobacco use. The decrease in cigarette smoking in the U.S. over the past half-century accounts for 40 percent of the drop in cancer deaths in men since 1990, the year when the lung- cancer mortality rate for men peaked, Gapstur’s commentary said. “We’ve made progress, but people are still dying at too high a rate,” she said. “At the moment, we can’t put a dollar amount on when we stop. We have to continue our research efforts.”

$100 Billion Spent Fighting Cancer: Despite Research, Cancer Still A Big Killer

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Death rates and new diagnoses of cancer are dropping, but cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., despite nearly $100 billion in research to fight the diseases since 1971. Susan Gapstur of the American Cancer Society said the investment since the 1971 National Cancer Act has been matched by other companies. All this has resulted in some progress, she said. From 1991 to 2006, the death rate from cancer dropped nearly 16 percent. Over the last decade, the rate of new diagnoses has dropped almost 1 percent. Gapstur and other authors of a commentary said the biggest factor in the drop is a reduction in smoking.

Carcinogens Detected from "Thirdhand Smoke"

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Anyone walking into a smoker's abode can tell you that the traces of tobacco use don't vanish when a cigarette is extinguished. Does this so-called thirdhand smoke pose a health hazard? Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that remnants of cigarette smoke don't just inertly settle onto surfaces. Instead the leftover nicotine can react with nitrous acid vapor, an environmentally common chemical emitted from gas appliances and vehicles, among other sources. The reaction produces carcinogenic compounds known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs).

Progress in the War on Cancer: Vol. 303 No. 11, March 17, 2010

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

It has been almost 40 years since President Nixon proposed, in his 1971 State of the Union address, to " . . . launch an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer. . . . "1 The National Cancer Act, signed into law in December of the same year, broadened the scope and responsibilities of the National Cancer Institute, which had existed on a much smaller scale since 1937.2 The National Cancer Act also vastly increased federal funding "in order to more effectively carry out the national effort against cancer."2 Since 1971, the so-called war on cancer has consumed more than 100 billion federal research dollars, when allocations from all US agencies from 1970 to the present are combined.3 These funds have been more than matched by research investments from pharmaceutical companies, nongovernmental organizations, and states. However, the total spending on cancer research is dwarfed by the . . .

War on Cancer: Some Progress but No Victory

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT

Almost 40 years and 100 billion federal dollars have been invested in the "War On Cancer" since President Richard M. Nixon declared it, but the campaign is far from over, two researchers concluded this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "These funds have been more than matched by research investments from pharmaceutical companies, nongovernmental organizations, and states, Susan Gapstur, PhD, MPH, and Michael Thun, MD, both of the American Cancer Society, noted in a commentary that accompanied a wide-ranging Mar. 17 issue on cancer. "However," they wrote, "the total spending on cancer research is dwarfed by the medical and social costs resulting from the more than 100 diseases that are collectively called cancer." Although some critics complain about the relatively slow progress of the fight against cancer compared to other health threats, such as cardiovascular disease, the authors argued that comparing cancer rates in the U.S. at any two time points "can be misleading." Such comparisons should "take into account the more than 30% increase in the U.S. population that has occurred since 1970, and the nearly 2-fold increase in the proportion of adults aged 55 years or older, who account for more than 75% of all incident cancers," they wrote. . . . "As life expectancy has increased, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with cancer has increased as well," Gapstur and Thun wrote. "Nearly 1 in 2 men and more than 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer given the current lifespan." Cancer is currently the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and will overtake ischemic heart disease as the leading cause of death worldwide if current trends continue. "Internationally, the increasing numbers and aging of populations, in conjunction with the dissemination of Western patterns of smoking, diet, and physical inactivity, are already creating a global health crisis for many chronic diseases, including cancer, in low- and medium-resource countries," the authors observed. . . . One area where significant progress has been made is in primary prevention -- largely through the reduction of cigarette smoking in the U.S. The resulting decrease in lung cancer mortality accounted for nearly 40% of the reduction in the overall cancer death rate in men between 1990 and 2006. On the other hand, "the epidemic of overweight and obesity -- which is associated with the incidence of many types of cancer -- during the past two decades in the United States has created a new public health challenge," though its effects on cancer incidence are unclear, Gapstur and Thun wrote.

Declining Death Rates Reflect Progress against Cancer

ajemal@cancer.org — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Conclusions/Significance Progress in reducing cancer death rates is evident whether measured against baseline rates in 1970 or in 1990. The downturn in cancer death rates since 1990 result mostly from reductions in tobacco use, increased screening allowing early detection of several cancers, and modest to large improvements in treatment for specific cancers. Continued and increased investment in cancer prevention and control, access to high quality health care, and research could accelerate this progress. . . . Advances in prevention, early detection, and treatment all have contributed to this progress in reducing death rates from cancer [2], [17], [18], [19], [20]. The decreases in death rates from lung cancer and other smoking-related cancers resulted mostly from reductions in smoking prevalence since the 1950s [2], [21]. Most of the reduction in lung cancer death rates observed since in 1990 in men and since in 2002 in women represents smoking cessation that began among educated men and women in 1950s; the full benefits of reduced initiation among adolescents will emerge in the future as these generations age. Between 1965 and 2006, current smoking prevalence among all U.S. adults 18 year and above decreased by 54% (from 51% to 24%) in men and by 46% (from 34% to 18%) in women [22]. Despite these substantial reductions in smoking prevalence and mortality from smoking-related cancers, cigarette smoking still accounts for approximately 30% of all cancer deaths, with lung cancer contributing most (80%) of these deaths [23]. About 45 million adults continue to smoke cigarettes. Decreasing initiation and increasing cessation through proven tobacco control interventions continue to be important priorities for reducing cancer mortality in the short and long term. . . . The greater decrease in the overall cancer death rates in men than women largely due to differences in mortality trends from lung cancer which accounts for about 80% of all smoking attributable cancer deaths and nearly 30% of the total cancer deaths in the U.S. [21], [58], [59]. Lung cancer death rates have continued to decrease since 1990 in men, while they continued to increase through the mid 2000 in women. Trends in lung cancer also explain, in part, why the decrease in overall cancer deaths rates began earlier and were larger in proportionate terms in the younger than in the older age groups. Smoking prevalence and lung cancer peaked in those men born around 1920s and in women born around the late 1930s, now in their 70–90s. Younger cancer patients are also more likely to receive aggressive treatment and to participate in clinical trials [17].

Study finds cancer mortality has declined since initiation of 'war on cancer'

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A new American Cancer Society study finds progress in reducing cancer death rates is evident whether measured against baseline rates in 1970 or in 1990. The study appears in the open access journal PLos ONE, and finds a downturn in cancer death rates since 1990 results mostly from reductions in tobacco use, increased screening allowing early detection of several cancers, and modest to large improvements in treatment for specific cancers. Temporal trends in death rates are the most reliable measure of progress against cancer, reflecting improvements in prevention, early detection, and treatment. Although age-standardized cancer death rates in the U.S. have been decreasing since the early 1990s, some reports have cited limited improvement in death rates as evidence that the "war on cancer", which was initiated in 1971, has failed. Many of these analyses fail to account for the dominant and dramatic increase in cancer death rates due to tobacco-related cancers in the latter part of the 20th century. . . . "Contrary to the pessimistic news from the popular media, overall cancer death rates have decreased substantially in both men and women whether measured against baseline rates in 1970/71 when the National Cancer Act was signed by President Nixon or when measured against the peak rates in 1990/91.," write the authors. Despite those gains, the authors caution against complacency. "Continued and increased investment in cancer prevention and control, access to high quality health care, and research could accelerate this progress," they conclude.

Cancer war’s local front: Change your lifestyle and save your life, doctor says

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

MOULTRIE -- Kicking the tobacco habit and shedding some pounds produce benefits beyond cutting the risks of a heart attack or stroke. They also could dramatically reduce the risk of dying of cancer. Of the more than 562,340 cancer deaths in the United States last year, one-third are the results of tobacco use and an equal amount are attributable to being overweight, Dr. Phillip Roberts, director of the Phoebe Cancer Center told Moultrie Rotary Club members Tuesday. The high percentage of Southwest Georgians who are obese or overweight and/or use tobacco also are reflected in the cancer deaths. The U.S. average in 2009 was 186.9 deaths per 100,000 population, compared to 193.7 in Colquitt County and 201.9 percent in Dougherty County. Georgia's rate for 2009 was 193 deaths per 100,000 population. "The extent to which our cancer rates are higher has more to do with our lifestyles than your health care systems," Roberts said. Last year in Georgia there were 14,970 cancer deaths. Of those 4,660 were from lung cancer

Dispatch: PSAs, Smoking and Prostates, Cell Phones, Tobacco Lozenges: > Facts & Fears >

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Reuters reports, "Cigarette smoking may increase a man's risk for developing and dying from prostate cancer, pooled data from twenty-four studies involving 21,600 men with the disease indicates." "This caught our attention because prostate cancer was not previously associated with cigarette smoking," says Dr. Whelan. "That doesn't mean it isn't, but we need more information. . . . "This report is based on several meta analyses from several different data sets, so it's hard to get a coherent message out of this," says Dr. Ross. . . .

Yesterday, R.J. Reynolds and Star Scientific defended their right to produce dissolvable tobacco products that mimic breath mints and breath strips. "Again, the whole point is that this is one of many products that could be extremely helpful to smokers trying to quit cigarettes," says Dr. Whelan. Dr. Ross adds, "Those who equate 'tobacco' with 'evil' fail to consider the fate of over 40 million addicted smokers in the U.S. And the Appleton reason for trying to get the funds is laughable: They assert that tobacco lozenges would undercut the Wisconsin Clean Air Act!"

America's Prostate Cancer Organizations Offer Pointers to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

America's Prostate Cancer Organizations today released the full text of written testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The Committee will be holding a hearing on "Prostate Cancer: New Questions About Screening and Treatment" on March 4, 2010. "Eleven different US-based, patient-focused, prostate cancer education and advocacy organizations came together to offer Congressman Ed Towns and the committee our shared perspective on the critical priorities that will change the impact of prostate cancer on the lives of Americans and their families," stated Scott Williams of the Men's Health Network on behalf of America's Prostate Cancer Organizations.

Historic Committee Hearing Announced to Address Prostate Cancer Issues : Testimony Addresses Fact That Health Reform Bills Eliminate Prostate Cancer Screening

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The following is being released by Men's Health Network: WHAT: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Congressman Edolphus Towns, will hold a hearing entitled: "Prostate Cancer: New Questions About Screening and Treatment." This is the first Congressional prostate cancer hearing in 11 years and, in the midst of debate on a health reform bill that will eliminate prostate cancer screenings currently available to millions of men in 37 states, this hearing is desperately needed.

Smoking as a Risk Factor for Prostate Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of 24 Prospective Cohort Studies

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Objectives. We evaluated the relationship between smoking and adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Methods. We pooled data from 24 cohort studies enrolling 21579 prostate cancer case participants for a general variance-based meta-analysis. . . . Conclusions. Observational cohort studies show an association of smoking with prostate cancer incidence and mortality. Ill-defined exposure categories in many cohort studies suggest that pooled data underestimate risk.

Cigarette smoking may raise prostate cancer risk

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Cigarette smoking may increase a man's risk for developing and dying from prostate cancer, pooled data from 24 studies involving 21,600 men with the disease indicates. This study "provides good evidence that prostate cancer is likely a smoking-related tumor," Dr. Michael Huncharek, at Meta-Analysis Research Group in Columbia, South Carolina, wrote in an email to Reuters Health. Prostate cancer is the most common of all cancers striking U.S. men. Estimates from 2008 show 186,000 new prostate cancer cases and 28,000 deaths, yet the cause remains elusive. In the American Journal of Public Health, Huncharek and colleagues report results of their "meta-analysis" . . . They found "surprisingly consistent evidence," Huncharek said, that both the chance of developing prostate cancer and dying from prostate cancer increases with smoking, even though many of the studies analyzed used crude smoking classifications.

Tobacco Use in Human Papillomavirus–Positive Advanced Oropharynx Cancer Patients Related to Increased Risk of Distant Metastases and Tumor Recurrence: Clin Cancer Res; 16(4); 1226–35

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of tobacco use on disease recurrence (local/regional recurrence, distant metastasis, or second primary) among patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)–positive squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (SCCOP) following a complete response to chemoradiation therapy. . . . Conclusions: Current tobacco users with advanced, HPV-positive SCCOP are at higher risk of disease recurrence compared with never-tobacco users.