Smoke-free Workplace Laws May Decrease Youth Smoking

Although teens rarely spend time in offices, smoke-free laws affecting those venues may have a ripple effect that deters youth from taking up the habit, a new study suggests.

In an 11-year study, smoke-free workplace laws were tied to a decrease in the odds that adolescents and young adults would start to smoke, and smoke-free bar laws were tied to fewer days of smoking for youth who had already started. Young people prefer slim cigarettes and choose to buy Vogue Super Slims Arome online http://cigarette-deals.com/vogue-cheap-cigarettes/vogue-super-slims-arome

“There was an effect of both smoking restrictions and cigarette taxes, and independent and additive effects,” said senior author Stanton A. Glantz of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education of the University of California, San Francisco.

Smoke-free workplace laws had an effect on smoking initiation equivalent to a $1.57 tax on cigarettes, according to the analysis.

“You often hear people say the most effective thing you can do is raise taxes,” Glantz told Reuters Health by phone. According to this study, big tax increases have a bigger effect on smoking restriction, but smaller tax increases will be equal to or lesser than smoke-free laws.

Researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth from 1997 to 2007, following about 4,000 of the people in that study who were 12 to 18 years old when it began.

In 1997, the youth were asked if they had ever smoked a cigarette, and in later years were asked if they had smoked since the previous interview. Those who were smokers reported on how many of the previous 30 days they had smoked.

The researchers compared these answers to state level cigarette taxes, as well as smoke-free laws, which can be statewide, county-wide or city-wide.

Smoke-free bar laws did not seem to affect whether or not the youth would begin smoking, but smoke-free workplace laws decreased the odds of smoking initiation by 30 percent.

“When you pass workplace laws it sends a strong message that smoking is out,” Glantz said. “Teenagers are looking to adults, and see adults rejecting smoking.”

People Changing their Opinion About Smoking

Nearly 1,000 residents in Southern Tier, New York, showed a change in opinions about the habit of smoking. These are results of a survey in which participated residents from Steuben, Schuyler and Chemung Counties. The survey showed that the number of people with negative opinion on smoking in public places is getting increased. So what

Cigarettes to be banned to create outdoor 'smoke free zones'

SMOKING is set to be banned in city parks and playgrounds and outside Hanley’s new bus station. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is looking at creating the outdoor ‘smoke free zones’ to try to encourage the city’s 55,000 smokers to give up fags.

The Smithfield development – which includes the council’s controversial HQ – is also being considered for the smoking ban. It has been illegal to smoke in enclosed public places – including pubs – in England since 2007. But London Mayor Boris Johnson is looking to ban smoking in the capital’s parks and other local authorities are considering the idea.

The plan has divided residents. Bus passenger Alf Beswick, aged 61, smoker of Kent Nanotek Infina http://www.buycigarettes.eu/kent/nanotek-infina, said: “What a ridiculous idea. The smoke will just blow away in the open air anyway.” But campaigners believe an outdoor smoking ban will help more people to kick their habit. They are backing Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s idea to create a number of ‘smoke-free zones’.

Council leaders are looking at introducing the ban in parks and playgrounds, outside Hanley bus station and at the city centre Smithfield development. It comes as around 55,000 adults smoke in the Potteries – which is 28 per cent of the population and well above the England average. Anti-smoking charity Ash today welcomed the potential ban.

Information manager Amanda Sandford said: “If the council proposed to ban smoking in children’s playgrounds then I can’t see why anyone would be against that, apart from maybe tobacco companies. Even smokers don’t want their own children to take up smoking. We would also support creating smoke-free zones outside bus stations and council buildings. “While the health benefits would be limited, as it is outdoors, it can make a place seem less inviting if there are people stood outside smoking. It will also help to reduce littering.

“Smoke-free zones will help to de-normalise smoking. But it is important that the council consults people first. If it has public support and people are aware of it, it could be that the ban becomes self-policing.” The idea of smoke-free zones is being explored by the city’s Tobacco Control Alliance (TCA), which is chaired by senior councillor Adrian Knapper.

Anti-tobacco campaign urges youth to avoid smoking

National Commission on Tobacco Control education and community empowerment division head Fuad Baradja said young people in Indonesia remained vulnerable to cigarette marketing activities, as tobacco companies frequently sponsored youth sporting events to advertise products, and added that the impact of smoking ran in complete opposition to the purpose of sporting activities.

He said Indonesia was one of the countries with the slowest progress in terms of prohibiting the advertisements, promotions, sponsorship and corporate social responsibility activities of cigarette companies that aimed to bolster their public image, with the youth as their main target.

Government Regulation (PP) No.109/2012 on tobacco control, which still allows cigarette advertisements, promotions and sponsorship via all types of media in Indonesia, had made children targets of exploitation of cigarette companies’ marketing activities. Most popular brand among young people is LD cigarettes http://www.mydiscountcigarette.net/buy/ld

“Children have become a marketing target of the cigarette industry because they are potential consumers that will probably remain tobacco-addicts for life, preserving the existence of the industry,” said Fuad on the sidelines of the Handball Bogor Open in Bogor, West Java, on Saturday.

“One of most effective strategies getting young people addicted to tobacco is through advertising, promotions and sponsorship at events like sporting events,” he went on.

The 2013 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) data shows that more than 60 percent of smokers started their habits when they were still under 20. Meanwhile, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey data revealed a rapid increase in the prevalence of young smokers aged between 13 and 15-years-old from 12.6 percent in 2006 to 20.3 percent in 2009.

Heri Isnaeni, head of the 2014 Handball Open Bogor organizing committee, said sporting event attendees were mostly young people who were vulnerable to cigarette advertising exposure.

“That’s why we picked ‘A cool handball, a handball without a cigarette’ as the theme of this year’s Handball Open. This aims to encourage young people to achieve at sporting events without cigarette smoking,”

Study Found Connection Between Mother’s Smoking and Kid’s Obesity

A new study found that children of females who smoke cigarettes during their pregnancy and are overweight, are more likely to become obese as toddlers, and remain obese in their teenage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during the past years in the USA the rates of obesity have significantly increased among

End all smoking in casinos

Casino company executives and industry experts recently met to discuss issues such as rapid expansion and competition in the regional gaming market at the 18th annual East Coast Gaming Congress, held in Atlantic City. Unfortunately, one item left off the agenda was a public-health issue of great importance: the thousands of workers and patrons being exposed to secondhand smoke inside Pennsylvania and New Jersey casinos. The time has come to move toward smoke-free casinos to create a healthier environment for employees and patrons.

Workplace exposure to secondhand smoke at places like casinos remains a top preventable cause of rising health-care costs, chronic disease, and premature death. In January, the U.S. surgeon general issued a report adding stroke to a long list of health effects caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. Exposure for as little as 30 minutes causes immediate effects on blood and blood vessels that raise the risk of a heart attack. In 2006, the surgeon general reported that there is no known safe level of exposure, and the only known way to fully protect health is to have 100 percent smoke-free indoor air.

A recent journal article by a senior scientist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that casino workers employed where indoor smoking is permitted have a significantly higher risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and lung cancer - even when smoking is limited to certain casino areas or when high-tech ventilation is employed. With about 50,000 employees working at Atlantic City casinos and those across Pennsylvania, this is a significant workplace safety issue. If the dangerous health impacts of exposure are not compelling reason enough for casinos to be smokefree, casino companies and state decision makers should consider the disadvantages of allowing secondhand smoke in Pennsylvania and New Jersey casinos when it comes to their regional gaming competition. Most casino patrons do not smoke, just as 82 percent of the U.S. population does not.

Casino expansion is heating up as nearby states compete for the same pool of patrons. A recent Econsult report to the legislature, "The Current Condition and Future Viability of Casino Gaming in Pennsylvania," suggests that while the state's casinos have made gains "cannibalizing" patrons from New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia, they are open to this same risk of losing patrons to Ohio, Maryland, and New York, which all have smoke-free casinos.

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New Jersey to Increase Age to Buy Cigarettes

State committee in New Jersey proposed to increase to 21 legal age to buy tobacco products and e-cigarettes. If the proposal will be approved, the law will make New Jersey the first state in the USA who requires this age to buy cigarettes. Back in 2006 the state increased minimum age to buy cigarettes, cigars

Egypt seeks to discourage tobacco use

The Egyptian government's recent decision to prevent the country from hosting an international shisha competition highlights its efforts to reduce smoking among Egypt's nine million smokers.

The Shisha Masters World Contest was expected to take place in Cairo on April 24th and 25th, with the participation of shisha manufacturers from around the world. However, the Ministry of Health banned the event, calling it "a clear violation" of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, signed by Egypt in 2005.

The event's competitions were to have included prizes for the best shisha design and best tasting shisha tobacco. "The decision to ban the event stems from the ministry's keenness on not breaching the terms of the WHO Framework Convention, which aims to reduce the spread and consumption of tobacco in addition to protecting people from passive smoking," said Abdul Hadi Mustafa of the Ministry of Health.

The agreement also prohibits tobacco advertising and promotion, Mustafa said. The government is fully compliant with the agreement, especially with regard to preventing the sale of tobacco to minors, preventing tobacco advertising, adding warning labels about risks of tobacco on packaging, and mounting regular national campaigns to educate the public about the consequences of smoking addiction, he said.

The ministry will review the laws relating to exhibitions and competitions and modify them so this situation will not be repeated in the future, Mustafa told Al-Shorfa.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in a 2013 report, there were 9.4 million smokers in Egypt in 2011, representing 17% of the total population older than 15 years of age. A recent joint study by the WHO and the Ministry of Health documented around 170,000 smoking related deaths per year in Egypt.

The planned shisha event was a clear public promotion of shisha smoking, said Dr. Fathi Karim of the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate committee on anti-smoking and addiction.

Shisha is considered more dangerous than cigarette smoking, as "one shisha contains the nicotine equivalent of 25 cigarettes", he said. "It has been scientifically proven that smoking shisha can cause lung cancer, chronic infections to the bronchial tubes" and other diseases.

"Unfortunately, shisha is widespread in Egypt, and it is not limited to adults, but also young people are drawn to it because they see it as fashionable despite all the harm it causes," he told Al-Shorfa.

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Smokefree Maori, New Zealand

Winnie Tanginui knows the effects smoking has on an unborn child which is why she quit smoking during both pregnancies. Through Quitline, Me Mutu, Winnie is now represented in the decreasing Māori smoking rates and enjoying her status as a proud Smokefree Māori. Of Waikato, Te Rarawa and Te Aupōuri descent, Winnie says she has tried a million times to quit: “I gave up smoking in 1999 when I got pregnant with my eldest daughter. I lasted through the pregnancy and a few months after.

“I quit in 2009 when I found out that I was pregnant with my wairua taonga. But I kept falling off the waka.

“I signed up with Quitline in July, 2013, bought my last packet of Bond cigarettes in August and became a non-smoker,” Winnie says.

Te Ara Hā Ora, the National Māori Tobacco Control Service and national stop smoking service Quitline, Me Mutu are hearing many success stories just like Winnie’s and they are thrilled to see a significant decrease in Māori smoking rates.

The 2013 Census found that smoking prevalence among Māori had dropped from 42.2% in 2006 to 32.7% in 2013. The recent Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Year 10 smoking surveyshowed that smoking amongst Māori Year 10 is also continuing to show rapid decline. Daily smoking amongst Māori Year 10 has declined to 8.5% in 2013 compared to 26.9% in 2003 and 30.3% in 1999.

“Cessation and public health workers across the country can pat themselves on the back for their determination to support Smokefree whānau and the Smokefree 2025 goal” says Zoe Hawke of Te Ara Hā Ora.

Te Ohu Auahi Mutunga - a stop smoking service in Palmerston North – is also noticing an increase in Māori wanting to stamp out smoking. Quit coach Marilyn McKay’s client says money is a huge motivator for her wanting to quit. “My client has been auahi kore for the past three months and she’s saved $920. She checks her account every day and she feels great.”

Quitline CEO Paula Snowden says every year Quitline, Me Mutu helps about 12,000 Māori to quit smoking. “We know you have a better chance of successfully quitting if you use a support service,” she says. Winnie celebrates over 290 Smokefree days. “I know a journey to a thousand miles begins with one step. I use Quitline’s blogs, texts and phone support. I support 981 bloggers on Quitline’s website too,” she says.

“I am doing this for my seven children and my future. “I am proud to be Smokefree as I am a visionary leader living a healthier and wealthier lifestyle.” Quitline, Me Mutu and Te Ara Hā Ora warn that “we must maintain momentum!”

Both organisations urge action in areas such as the reduction of duty-free allowance on cigarettes and tobacco; Smokefree cars; increased investment in cessation and new nicotine replacement devices; increased taxation; and unbranded packaging.

Residents divided on smoke ban proposal

Health, choice and rights dominated recent discussions before the City Commission on Mayor Chris Boswell’s proposal to extend the smoking ban to all workplaces, including bars, hotels and private clubs and organizations, such as the Elks Lodge, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

“The current ordinance doesn’t guarantee a 100 percent smoke-free environment,” Boswell told a standing room only crowd of interested persons at Wednesday’s commission meeting that included cancer survivors, friends of people who died of cancer or are suffering from it, a lobbyist from Austin for the American Cancer Society, and the medical community.

The proposed extension would ban not only cheapest cigarettes but also e-cigarettes from the workplace. Youth of the community through an organization called Harlingen Smoke Busters also joined proponents of the smoke-free workplace for all employees. The organization is composed of middle school students. Teens Michael Garza and Joshua Delgado addressed the commission, pointing to the number of people who die from secondhand smoke, encouraging the commission to extend the ban and to educate youth and the community.

Bar owners, smokers, non-smokers and former smokers also attended the meeting, touting a person’s, an organization’s and a business’ right to choose. Amid some concerns, the commission voted for the mayor’s proposal, but a second vote is required. Commissioners expect that city staff will address their concerns before the proposal is presented to the commission for the second vote.

Referring to private organizations, Commissioner Danny Castillo questioned what the implications of the proposal would be when the workers at these organizations are volunteers. Boswell said that the intent is to limit exposure to workers who don’t have a choice of where they work. However, he said, some of the organizations do have employees. “If volunteers, that might make a difference,” he said.

Commissioner Victor Leal also expressed concern about the ban extending to private clubs. He pointed out that the Elks Lodge has a public area where bingos are held. It also has a private area where smoking is allowed and it is a “contained area,” Leal said.

Leal also said that he had received calls from the hotel industry, and pointed out that in Brownsville, hotels are allowed to have 20 percent of their rooms for smokers. Leal, a former smoker, said that more research is needed before the commission can make a decision and suggested that other smoking ordinances be reviewed.

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.

Will Smoking be Totally Eliminated from Our Lives?

50 years ago the American surgeon general, Luther Terry, released the first report that directly connected cigarette smoking to lung cancer and other health disorders. The report influenced greatly people’s attitude towards smoking, changing it from an acceptable, to inacceptable in the public. According to Kathleen Sebelius, who is secretary of Health and Human Services,

Smoking Proves Hard to Shake Among the Poor

When smoking first swept the United States in the early decades of the 20th century, it took hold among the well-to-do. Filter cigarettes were high-society symbols of elegance and class, puffed by doctors and movie stars. By the 1960s, smoking had exploded, helped by the distribution of cigarettes to soldiers in World War II. Half of all men and a third of women smoked. But as evidence of smoking’s deadly consequences has accumulated, the broad patterns of use by class have shifted: Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the country, is now increasingly a habit of the poor and the working class.

While previous data established that pattern, a new analysis of federal smoking data released on Monday shows that the disparity is increasing. The national smoking rate has declined steadily, but there is a deep geographic divide. In the affluent suburbs of Washington, only about one in 10 people smoke, according to the analysis, by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. But in impoverished places like this — Clay County, in eastern Kentucky — nearly four in 10 do.

“It’s just what we do here,” said Ed Smith Jr., 51, holding up his cigarette in a hand callused from his job clearing trees away from power lines. Several of his friends have died of lung cancer, and he has tried to quit, but so far has not succeeded.

“I want to see my grandson grow up,” he said.

The new study, which evaluated federal survey data from 1996 to 2012 to produce smoking rates by county, offered a rare glimpse beneath the surface of state-level data. It found that affluent counties across the nation have experienced the biggest, and fastest, declines in smoking rates, while progress in the poorest ones has stagnated. The findings are particularly stark for women: About half of all high-income counties showed significant declines in the smoking rate for women, but only 4 percent of poor counties did, the analysis found.

This growing gap in smoking rates between rich and poor is helping drive inequality in health outcomes, experts say, with, for example, white women on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder now living shorter lives.“Smoking is leaving these fancy places, these big urban areas,” said Ali H. Mokdad, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and an author of the study. “But it has remained in these poor and rural areas. They are getting left behind.”

Americans with a high school education or less make up 40 percent of the population, but they account for 55 percent of the nation’s 42 million smokers, according to a New York Times analysis of health survey data obtained from the Minnesota Population Center, at the University of Minnesota. Since 1997, the smoking rate for adults has fallen 27 percent, but among the poor it has declined just 15 percent, according to the analysis. And among adults living in deep poverty in the South and Midwest, the smoking rate has not changed at all.

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.

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

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

50 years later, fewer smokers in Kentucky

Half a century after the U.S. surgeon general’s historic report outlining the deadly health dangers of smoking, fewer Kentuckians smoke, but the state remains at the top of the list nationally for the number of smokers. Currently 27 percent of adults in Kentucky smoke, said Amy Jeffers, director of Pathways Regional Prevention Center and manager of the Kentucky Tobacco Prevention Enhancement site.

Nationally, 18 percent of adults smoke, according to the 2014 report, which was released Friday. That is dramatically down from the 42 percent of adults who smoked in 1964, when the first report was issued, Jeffers said. Deaths attributable to smoking also have decreased since the first report, she said. The most current statistics show 7,800 adults die in Kentucky from smoking-related illnesses each year.

The outlook for children is sobering: about 107,000 children alive today will die prematurely if current rates continue, she said. However, that figure has decreased. When Jeffers first began monitoring the statistic 13 years ago, it was 115,000. With above-average cancer rates, Kentucky could see a dramatic reduction in cancer deaths if everyone in the state stopped smoking: 90 percent of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. “If we could eliminate smoking, we could almost eliminate lung cancer,” she said.

Another significant issue in Kentucky is second-hand smoke, especially exposure by children in the home. It leads to more cases of asthma and middle-ear infections, among others. Among the consequences are children missing more days of school. Smoking has even been linked to cavities. “There is no part of the body that is not impacted,” Jeffers said.

Findings in the report indicate that, while fewer people are smoking, there are more dangers from smoking than was believed half a century ago. In fact, the cigarettes they puff on may be more dangerous than the butts in 1964.

The typical cigarette contains more than 7,000 chemicals, some 70 of which are carcinogenic. Some cigarettes today are more addictive because chemical additives convey the nicotine to the brain quicker. One of every three deaths could be smoke-related, the report indicates, and nearly all lung cancer is related to smoking.

Smoking During Pregnancy May Make Daughter Dependent on Nicotine

Researchers say that women’s smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of her daughter becoming hooked on nicotine in adult age. In the journal Biological Psychiatry recently there were published results of a study that found that females who smoke during their pregnancy are at higher risks of their daughters becoming addicted to smoking later in