Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Scituate Raises to 21 Age for Buying Tobacco

Health officials in Scituate, Massachusetts, voted a bill to raise to 21 the minimum age to buy cigarettes. The initiative makes part of set of regulations directed on reducing tobacco use among youth by making it illegal to buy tobacco if you are under permitted age. This week took place the Board of Health meeting,

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hong Kong can go further to quit smoking, says WHO official

Meeting the recommended international standard for tobacco tax is not enough for Hong Kong - it can and should go further, a World Health Organisation official said ahead of an expected increase in the cost of smoking in Wednesday's budget.

Dr Carmen Audera-Lopez, acting team leader of the WHO's tobacco-free initiative in the Western Pacific region, said an expected increase in tobacco tax would only make up for inflation since the last rise in 2011.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah is expected to increase the flat HK$34 duty on a pack of 20 cigarettes by between HK$4 and HK$8, meaning that the tax rate would be above the WHO recommended rate of 70 per cent on all brands, an increase of between 11 and 24 per cent. Mainland brands like Double Happiness sell for about HK$43 per pack, with international brands such as Camel costing HK$50 to HK$52.

"The Hong Kong government has the capacity to go higher." Audera-Lopez said. "The suggested tax increase is only a moderate one and considering that it has not been increased since 2011, it is probably just compensating for inflation."

For tax rises to work, she said, they must be regular and make the habit less affordable. Encouraging governments to increase tobacco taxes will be the theme of World No Tobacco Day on May 31.

Anti-smoking campaigners had pressed the government to go much further, with some suggesting the duty be doubled.

Lam Tai-hing, chair professor of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said experiences from other regions showed that drastic tax measures were needed to make an impact. Doubling tax could lead to a fall of one percentage point in the proportion of the population who smoked, he said.

Courtney Love





Courtney Love


Monday, February 24, 2014

Anti-Smoking Activists Against Smoking in Movies

Recently the anti-tobacco youth group Reality Check gave awards to such Hollywood starts as Woody Allen, Leonardo Dicaprio and Johnny Depp, people who promote smoking in movies. They were called “Shame” by activists. The organization includes a local chapter from Schenectady, Albany and Rensselaer counties. It analyzed for many years how Hollywood encourages people to

actegratuit: Boris Pelcer

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Northwestern State University to Go Tobacco-Free

By the end of 2014 in Northwest Louisiana all universities will go totally tobacco-free. The last one who joined is Northwestern State University that declared recently about its decision. The new anti-tobacco policy comes into action from August 1 and prohibits tobacco use on all Northwestern State campuses. Marcus Jones, Vice President for University Affairs,

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Will Cigarettes Be Totally Banned?

Retailing of cigarettes is changing. CVS Caremark, the nation's second-largest pharmacy chain, announced last week it will stop selling tobacco products at its more than 7,600 drugstores. The company said it made the decision in a bid to focus more on providing health care, but medical and public health leaders predicted pressure will increase on companies like Walgreen Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to follow suit.

"I do think, in another few years, that pharmacies selling cigarettes will look as anachronistic" as old cigarette ads featuring physician endorsements look today, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

These developments have made many in public health dream bigger. It's caused Myers' organization and others to recently tout the goal of bringing the adult smoking rate down to 10 percent by 2024, from the current 18 percent. That would mean dropping it at twice the speed it declined over the last 10 years.

The bigger goal is to reduce U.S. smoking-related deaths to fewer than 10,000, from the current level of 480,000. But even if smoking rates dropped to zero immediately, it would take decades to see that benefit, since smoking-triggered cancers can take decades to develop. But while some experts and advocates are swinging for the fences, others are more pessimistic. They say the key to reaching such goals is not simply more taxes and more local smoking bans, but action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate smoking.

A 2009 federal law gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products. The law barred FDA from outright blocking the sale of cigarettes, but the agency was free to take such pivotal steps as prohibiting the use of appealing menthol flavoring in cigarettes and requiring cigarette makers to ratchet down the amount of addictive nicotine in each smoke.

But nearly five years after gaining power over cigarettes, FDA has yet to even propose such regulations. Agency officials say they're working on it. Many believe FDA's delay is driven by defense preparations for an anticipated battery of legal and political challenges.

A spokesman for Altria Group Inc., the maker of Marlboro, said the company supports FDA exercising its regulatory authority over tobacco products. But as a whole, the industry has tended to fight regulation. Some of the nation's largest tobacco companies - though not Altria - sued to stop FDA-proposed graphic warning labels on cigarette packs. A federal court blocked the ads.

"The industry makes money as long as they can delay regulation," said Kenneth Warner, a University of Michigan public health professor who is a leading authority on smoking and health.

Warner and Michigan colleague David Mendez estimate that, barring any major new tobacco control victories, the adult smoking rate will drop from its current 18 percent only to about 12 percent by 2050. If health officials do make huge strides, the rate could drop as low as 6 percent, they think.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

Cigarettes and Stress

People who think that smoking relieves them from stress are mistaken. A new research was made on the subject. It found that quitting smoking has same effects on the depression and anxiety as antidepressants do. Experts say that effects on quitting are even greater than from using medicines. The researchers from the universities of Birmingham,

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Retailers in Ireland Worried About Introduction of Plain Packs

In Ireland the representatives of Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association ( CSNA) told that Australia adopted too strict measures in order to improve their legislation on tobacco packaging. According to Vincent Jennings, who is CSNA chief executive, the introduction of plain cigarettes packaging in Ireland should be delayed. The initiative should be discussed first in

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Children Exposed to Second-Hand Smoke at Higher Risk of Tooth Decay

David Leader, D.M.D., M.P.H. of Tufts University is available to explain the possible relationship between second-hand smoke and an increased risk of cavities among children who still have their primary “baby” teeth. Leader’s critical summary of a review study on the subject appears in the February 2014 issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).

According to Healthy People 2020, approximately 33 percent of children between the ages of three and five years old, and nearly 55% of children ages six to nine, experienced cavities in at least one baby tooth from 1999 to 2004.

A clinical associate professor in the Department of Diagnosis and Health Promotion at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, Leader is an expert in evidence-based oral health, scleroderma, and dental public health. He is also a member of the Perinatal Oral Health Task Force of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and an evidence-based reviewer for the American Dental Association.

Monday, February 10, 2014

New Documentary About Surgeon General’s Report

In January US Department of Health and Human Services celebrated the 50th anniversary of release of first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health. In this regard they published a new report called “The Health Consequences of Smoking–50 Years of Progress”. However, a new documental film recently released says that efforts to reduce smoking have

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

FDA Launching Anti-Smoking Campaign Aimed at Youth

The FDA launches ads with people having wrinkles and yellow teeth in order to show teenagers the effects of long-term smoking. The $115 million anti-smoking campaign is called “The Real Cost” and its main goal is to prevent teenagers from smoking and encourage them to quit. The campaign starts on February 11 and will last

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

'Public backs' child car smoking ban

Most Scots would back a ban on smoking in cars when children are present, according to a survey by an MSP. Lib Dem Jim Hume wants to introduce a members bill at the Scottish Parliament which would bring in a ban, and is calling for MSPs to back his plans.

The South of Scotland MSP said the public response to his consultation showed an appetite for the legislation. The position puts him at odds with the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who said enforcing a ban would not work.

Mr Hume said the majority of the 161 responses to his consultation showed public backed the crackdown.

He said: "Many of the charities, individuals and health professionals who have backed my proposals recognise that this is about giving children the best start in life. "It doesn't seem fair that a child should be cooped up in a smoke-filled car during the school run.

"Those children cannot change their means of transport, let alone take steps to immediately remove themselves from the uncomfortable confines of a smoke-filled car."

Mr Hume lodged draft proposals for a bill in May last year calling for a ban in Scotland on smoking in private vehicles while a child under 16 is present. Motorists could potentially be fined £60 for breaching the rule. The consultation responses were split among 88 sent to Mr Hume and 73 completed through an online survey by the British Heart Foundation.

It showed 75% supported the plan, rising to 84% when the survey was included.
Some concern was raised about how officers would be able to identify the age of passengers and the age of the offender. Police would have to look out for cigarettes and children, alongside seatbelts and mobile phones.

The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association and smokers' lobby group Forest said the plan was a disproportionate response to a relatively rare problem. Labour wants to establish UK government powers to make smoking with children in the car an offence. The move could become law because of suggestions that MPs will be given a free vote on the issue when the Children and Families Bill returns to the Commons.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Smoking Ban in Boston

The smoking ban in Boston, Massachusetts, was proposed by the Mayor Thomas M. Menino and it came into action from the beginning of 2014. The lnew law prohibits to smoke not only cigarettes but also e-cigarettes, marijuana and vaporizers in all city open spaces such as parks and cemeteries. The ban includes Boston Common located