Kids negatively influenced by tobacco ads online

An increasing number of youngsters exposed to tobacco marketing are being influenced by it, a study reveals.

According to researchers from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, exposure to direct marketing is associated with increased use of tobacco.

"For several years, the emphasis in the tobacco industry has been on direct marketing, especially to young people who are highly price sensitive and who may find coupons, samples and promotions appealing," said lead author Samir Soneji from Dartmouth.

Soneji's team explored whether exposure to tobacco coupons and websites would increase the chances that a young person would start to smoke.

"We found that both direct mail (coupons) and exposure to tobacco websites were associated with increased chances of smoking initiation and current smoking," Soneji added.

Overall, 12 percent of 15-17-year olds and 26 percent of 18-23-year olds were exposed to either form of direct-to-consumer tobacco marketing.

According to the study, some of the internet marketing infiltrates social media which is widely consumed by teens and young adults.

Since younger consumers are more "price sensitive" to the high cost of tobacco products, a web ad offering a coupon could be perceived very favourably.

Teenagers and young adults, who live in a household with a smoker, may face increased exposure to direct marketing in the form of mailed ads and coupons, the study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, emphasised.

New Jersey Ranks 51 in Protecting Kids from Smoking

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has placed New Jersey at the end in the rating of American states which work to protect kids from smoking and tobacco use. It means that New Jersey shows very bad results in protecting kids from smoking and experts do recommend state authorities to reconsider using funds from the 1998

Quick Gains After a Smoking Ban

The number of premature births and children’s hospital visits for asthma dropped significantly in parts of the United States, Canada, and Europe barely a year after they enacted smoking bans, researchers reported in The Lancet last week.

The new analysis combined the results of 11 studies encompassing more than 2.5 million births and nearly 250,000 asthma attacks. Experts called it the best evidence to date that legislation creating smoke-free public places and workplaces improves children’s health, even in the womb. The results are “very impressive,” said Dr. Brian Mercer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, who noted that half a million American babies are born prematurely each year.

“If you could prevent 10 percent, you’d prevent nearly 50,000 premature babies in the U.S. alone each year,” said Dr. Mercer, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Vincenzo Berghella, the president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said: “There are over a million babies dying of being born preterm every year in the world. We can make major strides in decreasing that with smoking bans.”

After an exhaustive review of relevant studies spanning 38 years, the researchers analyzed five that looked at perinatal and child health after local smoking bans in North America and six studies conducted after national bans in Europe. Hospital visits for childhood asthma and premature births both declined about 10 percent in the year after smoking bans took effect, the researchers found.

The investigators also pooled data from two studies and found a 5 percent reduction in the number of children born very small for their gestational age after the introduction of smoke-free laws.

An earlier analysis of the impact of smoking bans on adult health demonstrated a 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular events. The new report offers “another very good reason to institute smoking bans in public places,” said Dr. Muktar Aliyu, an associate professor of health policy and medicine at Vanderbilt University who has studied birth outcomes linked to maternal smoking. Only 16 percent of the world’s population is covered by comprehensive smoke-free laws, and 40 percent of children worldwide are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke.

Growing up, Dr. Aliyu said, he stifled coughs as his father smoked in the car. “Adults can just walk away or change their environment,” he said. “A child can’t.” Despite fears that bans could lead to more smoking at home, studies have shown the opposite is true.

“Strong smoke-free laws change social norms about smoking, and consequently people implement smoke-free policies in their own homes as well,” said Joanna Cohen, the director of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. That’s probably how “smoke-free policies have such a direct impact on child health,” she added.

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.

'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.

Most Children from Rural Areas Exposed to Secondhand Smoke

Researchers from University of Kentucky say that secondhand smoke is main cause of a number of diseases in children, especially in rural areas, According to one of authors of the research Ellen Hahn, who is a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and director of the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, told

Children more exposed to secondhand smoke in U.S. rural areas

Secondhand smoke is the leading cause of childhood illness and premature death, especially in rural areas, University of Kentucky researchers say. Study co-author Ellen Hahn, a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing and director of the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, said elimination of the source of tobacco smoke is the only way to completely protect non-smokers, including children, from secondhand smoke.

Hahn said the study used data from an Internet-based panel survey administered to 400 to 500 Kentucky residents per year from 2007 to 2012. Most of the participants were women ages 35 to 54 with at least some college education. Almost half of the participants lived in a county with a comprehensive smoke-free law -- all workplaces and public places totally smoke-free -- and 14 percent of the participants lived in a county with a moderate or weak law, with some places excluded from the law.

The study, published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research Journal, found respondents living in urban counties were nearly two times more likely to report a smoke-free home than rural dwellers. Controlling for smoking status and other personal characteristics, those who responded to the survey in the last two years of the study were more likely to have a smoke-free home compared to those in 2007, the study said.

"The good news is that more and more Kentuckians have made their homes smoke-free since 2007," Hahn said in a statement.

"The bad news is that having children at home does not necessarily mean the home is smoke-free. Our local health departments are in desperate need of funding to promote smoke-free homes especially in rural areas, with smokers, and those with less education. Otherwise, the next generation of Kentuckians is doomed to a life of early death and disease."

Children in the UK Call for Smoke-Free Footpaths

In the UK smoking is prohibited in most public places including concert halls, pubs and parts of sports grounds. Now kids want smoking to be banned on the footpaths they use to get to school. Pupils from Yeo Moor Primary School in Clevedon are discussing with authoroties and teachers the possibility to introduce a bylaw