* We need your help for a study of the signs and feelings associated with stopping smoking cannabis (=withdrawal symptoms).
* The study will help us to devise better programs for helping cannabis smokers to quit.
* Only take part if you currently smoke cannabis or if you used to smoke cannabis.
* We greatly appreciate your time and effort.
http://www.stop-tabac.ch/en/Canab/

Young people are being targeted by campaigns promoting smoking from one of the world's largest tobacco companies, a report claims today.

Health charity ASH claims that British American Tobacco (BAT) uses a number of marketing techniques to secure a new generation of smokers. This, ASH's report claims, is at odds with BAT's expressed policy to "not market to anyone under 18 years old or older, if the law in a particular country sets the age higher".

BAT's alleged tailored tactics to encourage young people to smoke include selling single cigarettes outside schools in Nigeria alongside sweets and sponsoring sporting events, celebrity artists and actors, music festivals and special parties.

In Asia, BST sponsors Nepal's cricket team and engages a Bollywood star as brand ambassador for the John Players fashion range while in Africa and South America it organises youth-oriented parties and music events, ASH claims.
The charity also believes that "user generated content" promotes BAT on YouTube and Flickr.

Commenting on BAT's stated aim of not targeting young people, ASH director Deborah Arnott said: "Who are they kidding? The days of using cartoon characters to sell to teenagers are long gone. BAT understands that if you want to sell to 14-year-olds you have to act like you're aiming older. That is the heart of their whole school-of-cool approach."

Dr Douglas Bettcher, director of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) tobacco free initiative, said that ASH's report is a "compelling dossier on youth oriented tobacco marketing".
"The measures in the WHO framework convention on tobacco control, such as advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans are cost-effective, and have proven to work," he said.
"Countries need to implement them to reduce tobacco-related disease and death, and to prevent people from starting this deadly and addictive habit."

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of the British Medical Association's (BMA) science and ethics committee, said that ASH's report gives an insight into "the cynical and highly targeted marketing techniques of the tobacco industry" and that the BMA is "very worried about this".

Source: In the News, Metro, Guardian, 26 April 2007
ASH Press release: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/press/070426.html
Article link: (Metro) http://tinyurl.com/yqumfe:
(Guardian): http://tinyurl.com/26l3sg: (Inthenews): http://tinyurl.com/2yplxr

In an article focusing mainly on climate change and the need for collective action, columnist Thomas Sutcliffe also cites the example of the smoking ban as something that has won approval even though it has been enforced on the population.

One of the drawbacks of democracy is that it allows citizens to outsource their own moral failings to government. "Something should be done about it" is the cartoon version of this tendency, a phrase that always carries with it an implication of neglect or delinquency on the part of the powers that be, and takes it as read that the "something" - whatever it is - won't be done by the speaker.

Politicians can hardly be blamed if they conclude, cynically, that voters will reward them for talking about taking steps to reduce carbon emissions, but punish them swiftly if they actually do anything about it. This way we can kid ourselves that we "did our bit" by voting for a manifesto with a light green tint to it - while confident that no real sacrifice will be required of us.

The ban on smoking in public places is a nice case in point here. I doubt that one in a hundred smokers would have unilaterally taken steps to clear the air in cinemas or Tube trains before smoking bans were imposed in those areas - and very small numbers would have declared themselves in favour of such prohibitions being introduced. But, after they came into effect, a startlingly large percentage claimed to approve of them - at a point when they had nothing to gain by lying.

Compulsion had removed one of the main obstacles when it comes to solving a large collective problem through small individual actions - which is that if you're the only one making a sacrifice you feel like a fool rather than a saint. I suspect the right kind of green measure would have a similar history. Something should be done. To us.

wwww.ash.org.uk and
The Independent, 4 April 2007
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/thomas_sutcliffe/article2414785.ece

Where there is cigarette smoking there is probably misuse of alcohol too, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Cigarette smoking status can be used as a clinical indicator for alcohol misuse said principal investigator, Sherry McKee, assistant professor of psychiatry. This in turn presents an opportunity for intervention, she added.

She said that although brief screening and brief intervention provided in primary care settings are effective, clinicians do not frequently screen for alcohol misuse. This is a matter of concern because 26% of the U.S. population is drinking at hazardous levels.

Only an estimated 30% of individuals who visited a doctor reported being screened for an alcohol or drug use problem, McKee said. Physicians are much more likely to ask patients whether and how often they smoke.

She and her collaborators analyzed data from 42,374 adults in a national epidemiological survey on alcohol misuse and other related conditions. Following guidelines that physicians use to assess tobacco and alcohol use, they found that smokers are more likely to have a problem with alcohol compared to people who have never smoked.

This is the first study to document that individuals who are smokers, have the highest rates of problem drinking, McKee said. Using smoking status as a 'red flag' for assessments of alcohol use is a highly feasible and clinically sensible approach to screening she said.

The findings, she said, highlight the importance of physicians adopting standard alcohol screening questions into their practice.

Source: Medilexon 19 April 2007
Link to article: http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=68208

A research project said to be the world's most detailed medical study has signed up the first of the 500,000 volunteers it is seeking in the UK.

The UK Biobank aims to become a hugely significant resource for disease research by tracking the long-term health of a wide sample of people aged between 40 and 69. Researchers hope data about participants' genes, environment and lifestyle will provide insights into the causes and treatment of diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The project was announced seven years ago but it was only yesterday that the first centre opened in Manchester to collect blood and urine samples and data from about 45 people. Recruitment of the study group is to cost 62m over four years.

UK Biobank will follow participants through routine health records over many years. Organisers say about a quarter of the UK population of the relevant age will eventually be invited to participate, in the expectation that about one in 10 people will agree.

The Biobank's scientists say long-term tracking of health is a powerful way to learn about diseases, comparing their project to a previous study, led by Sir Richard Doll, which showed in 1950 that smoking caused lung cancer.

But the project has sparked controversy over its remit and applications. Dr Tim Peakman, UK Biobank executive director, said it would "help untangle the complex interplay of nature and nurture in the development of many different diseases. Its goal is not to focus on genes alone, which may be better done through other sorts of study."

About 15m samples will be stored for decades at about -200C.

Sources ASH daily News (www.ash.org.uk) and: Financial Times, 18 April 2007 Article link: http://tinyurl.com/2h5tqt

A sense of humor helps, Lauren Terrazzano says when you're dying of cancer.

Described by colleagues as a tenacious, hard-nosed street reporter, Terrazzano is sharing her own story in Life, With Cancer, a column she writes for the Newsday paper in Long Island, US. Diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago at age 36, her right lung has been removed and she has undergone extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

In a recent column, she announced that doctors have given her two to three months to live. The disease has advanced despite all of these treatments and we really don't know what the future holds, said Terrazzano.

In her columns, Terrazzano has written about the inappropriate things people say to cancer patients because they don't know what else to say, and about breaking the myth that people with cancer are heroes, when really we're just like everyone else.

She has taken shots at the tobacco marketers and written about the stress the disease has on loved ones. And despite the fact that so many aspects of cancer are depressing, she insists there is room for humour.

I use humour sometimes as a device to make the writing easier and to put people at ease,'' said Terrazzano.

Michael Seilback of the American Lung Association said: Lauren's struggle, unfortunately, is not unique, though her column has really hit home with a lot of people.

Source: Guardian 22 April 2007
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/35ogyr

Although smoking is already banned on buses and trains in Northern Ireland, Translink is including information on how to quit smoking on its tickets.

From this week the public transport company will include a series of top tips on giving up smoking on the reverse of its ticket.

Planned to coincide with the introduction of smokefree legislation on 30 April, Translink has also produced information cards, which it hopes customers who are smokers will pick up and keep. Translink worked in conjunction with the Ulster Cancer Foundation to develop the cards.

The end of April will also see the company's existing ban on smoking extended across all networks including rail platforms, stations, offices and property.

A Translink spokeswoman said: The company wants to do its bit to help customers try and quit smoking. So if just one person quits because of what we're doing then it's all been worth it, added the spokeswoman.

Source: BBC News 24 April 2007
Link to article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6586201.stm

Findings Move Science Closer to Targeted, Improved Therapies

Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, have for the first time identified genes that might increase a person's ability to abstain from smoking. The breakthrough research was conducted by Dr. George Uhl at NIDA's Intramural Research Program and a team led by Dr. Jed Rose at the Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research at Duke University Medical Center.

The study, published in the journal BMC Genetics, available online April 2, brings researchers a step closer toward tailoring individualized drug therapy for addiction based on an individual's unique genetic make-up.

Jump to full article: National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2007-04-02
http://www.tobacco.org/news/244630.html

Smokers looking for a less harmful way to get their nicotine fix should switch to Swedish snus, a smokeless tobacco that puts them at a significantly lower risk of cancer than cigarettes, doctors say in an article posted online Thursday in The Lancet.

Smokers are at least 10 times more likely to get lung cancer than people who use snus, studies showed, a finding that could challenge bans on snus, particularly in the European Union.

All EU nations now prohibit snus, except for Sweden, which was granted an exemption because of the widespread use of the powder tobacco among Swedes. In the United States, smokeless tobacco is legal, and Swedish snus is being test-marketed in at least two U.S. cities.

"We should not delay in allowing snus to compete with cigarettes for market share," Dr. Jonathan Foulds of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Dr. Lynn Kozlowski of the University of Buffalo said in analyzing two studies published in The Lancet.

"The banning or exaggerated opposition to snus in cigarette-rife environments is not sound public health policy," they wrote.

One study tracked the incidence of cancer over among nearly 280,000 Swedish men, some of them snus users, some smokers and some who never used tobacco , over a 20-year period. The other projected the effect on health if snus were introduced in Australia, where it currently is banned.

Swedish snus makers say the production process there is different from similar products in the U.S., adding that they work hard to remove carcinogens during manufacturing.

But snus is far from harmless; about 30 carcinogens have been found in the smokeless tobacco. In 2004, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice upheld a ban on the substance, ruling that the dangers of snus merited its being outlawed.

However, the two studies show snus may not be as harmful as previously thought, and far less harmful than cigarettes.

Smoking is the top risk factor for cancer, and approximately 1 billion people worldwide are addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. Tobacco kills one in 10 people globally, and causes 4 million deaths every year.

"For a smoker, quitting all tobacco use is best, but failing that, switching to snus is a good idea," said Dr. Peter Hajek, professor of clinical psychology at Queen Mary University Hospital in London. Hajek was not involved in either study.

"If a sufficient proportion of smokers switched to snus, lifting the ban could be in the public interest," Hajek said.

Source: ASH daily news and Pysorg, 10 May 2007
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/33fz9c
Journal link (free registration required to read articles):
http://www.thelancet.com/

At least 200,000 people die every year from cancers related to their workplaces, mainly from inhaling asbestos fibres and secondhand tobacco smoke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

WHO said every 10th lung cancer death is related to occupational hazards. Those exposed to secondhand smoke at work have twice the risk of lung cancer than those in a smoke-free environment.

Known and preventable exposures are clearly responsible for hundreds of thousands of excess cancer cases each year, said Maria Neira, WHO director of public health and environment.

The WHO urged governments and industry to tighten safety standards to ensure workers are not exposed to carcinogens.
Source: Reuters 27 April 2007
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/2nazh6

After a record-setting 2003, tobacco companies spent less money marketing and advertising their products in 2004 and 2005. That's according to a report from the Federal Trade Commission.

The new FTC report shows that the tobacco companies have nearly doubled their marketing expenditures nationwide since the 1998 state tobacco settlement, which was supposed to curtail tobacco marketing. In 2005, the latest year in the reports, the tobacco companies spent $13.4 billion on marketing nationwide - $36.6 million a day. In 1998, the tobacco companies spent $6.9 billion on marketing.

The bulk of the tobacco company marketing dollars are spent on price discounts that make cigarettes more affordable to children, the most price-sensitive customers. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said states should counter this discounting by significantly increasing tobacco taxes and funding for tobacco prevention programs.

Source: FoxCarolina, PR NewsWire, 26 April 2007
Article link: (PRNW) http://tinyurl.com/2ran95
Report link: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/04/cigaretterpt.shtm

Liquid cigarette? Device hailed as aid to quit smoking
Anita Weier
The Capital Times

A liquid cigarette invented in Milwaukee may be the next big aid for those who want to quit smoking.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed a clinical trial of "Smoke-Break" to move forward, and a hospital or health care provider is being sought to host the study, said Dr. Carl Olson, chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee and an investor in the product.

"This is a significant step forward as we continue our efforts to help smokers quit smoking," said Brett Roth, a West Allis resident who invented the liquid cigarette to kick his own two-pack-a-day habit.

Smoke-Break is delivered in a clear plastic tube, uses no flame and resembles an unlit cigarette. The tube is filled with a fruit-flavored gel containing a small dose of nicotine. The user consumes the liquid by lifting the device to the mouth and sipping through a mouthpiece, much as a smoker would do with a cigarette...

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=131352

Breathing in secondhand smoke could raise your risk for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, a new American study has found.

Lead researcher Thaddeus Haigh from University of California said that it is the first study to link secondhand smoke to this form of mental deterioration.

This study looks at the relationship between cardiovascular disease and dementia and the independent, direct effects of tobacco on the central nervous system, Haight said.

A six-year evaluation revealed that in people exposed to secondhand smoke for 30 years or more were about 30% more likely to develop dementia than those without such exposure.

Analysis of the data showed that the combination of long-term exposure to secondhand smoke and the presence of cardiovascular disease nearly doubled the risk of dementia. Long-term exposure to secondhand smoke alone increased the risk of dementia by about a third.

The study results provide support for efforts to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, Haight said.

It's reasonable to suppose that anything that is bad for your heart is bad for your brain, so it is no great surprise that secondhand smoke could be responsible for development of carotid artery disease and dementias of all kinds, said Bill Thies, from the Alzheimer's Association.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said:This study is an important addition to the overwhelming evidence of serious health harms from secondhand smoke.
Source: Healthfinder 1 May 2007
Link to article: http://tinyurl.com/2btbpu

New York City's Health Department on Wednesday launched a new anti-smoking campaign with another round of graphic television commercials aimed at scaring people into quitting.

Ronaldo Martinez, a laryngeal cancer survivor who appeared in a series of much-publicized anti-smoking television commercials in the Northeastern United States, is featured in the new advertisements.

If the advertisements are not enough to get New Yorkers to quit, smokers may soon find a message from Martinez in their e-mail inboxes.

Martinez, who speaks through a mechanical voice box after having his larynx removed, will also appear in new Internet advertisements that New Yorkers can e-mail to others.

Officials said the graphic advertisements, which will be on TV, radio, subways and kiosks will be presented in both English and Spanish.

"I am a physician. I have taken care of people who have been gasping for every single breath because of smoking - people who have lost toes, legs because of smoking, people who have had strokes and are unable to speak because of smoking, people who have had heart attacks and can not even walk across the room because of smoking. That is the reality of smoking," said NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden. "Showing that reality helps people firm their resolve to quit."

As part of the new campaign, the health department will also give out free nicotine patches and gum to smokers.

Meanwhile, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been pushing for a cigarette tax hike to 2 dollars per pack.

The taxes would drive the price of many cigarettes to about 7 dollars a pack. Bloomberg said raising taxes on tobacco could prevent young people from smoking.

http://english.people.com.cn/...

A remarkable social experiment has tracked thousands of Britons born in one week in 1958 and another generation born in 1970.

According to Peter Shepherd, the longest-serving academic on the project, the most important finding from the experiment was the conclusion that a mother smoking during pregnancy could harm her baby. The lingering effects on height, weight and English and maths ability could go on until the child reached 16, he added.

Source: ASH daily news (www.ash.org.uk) and Observer, 20 May 2007
Article link: http://tinyurl.com/3xlxgq