Real time count of the number of deaths from cancer, respiratory diseases etc:
The world clock:
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

Cigarette smokers face a higher risk of developing sleep disorder as compared to people who do not smoke, shows a new study.
Scientists from Johns Hopkins University studied 40 people who reported smoking at least 20 cigarettes per day and claimed to have no health problems. The researchers also studied the same numbers of non-smokers.
The scientists asked the participants about whether they got good sleep or didn't feel rested during the day, reported the online edition of health magazine WebMD.
Restless sleep was more common among smokers than among non-smokers. Five percent of non-smokers reported restless sleep as compared to 22.5 percent of smokers, the researchers said.
Smoking might lead to poor sleep due to overnight nicotine withdrawal, they added.
Source: ASH (www.ash.org.uk) and The Irish Sun, 5th February 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2erqv7

Geneva, home to the United Nations' European headquarters and scores of banks catering to the very rich, will ban smoking in public places following a referendum on Sunday, the Swiss news agency ATS said.
Some 79 percent of voters in Switzerland's second-largest city supported the prohibition, which the local government said it would quickly put in place, ATS said. . . .
Geneva will be the sixth of the Alpine country's 26 cantons to institute a ban on smoking in public places.

Source: www.tobacco.org

Subtitle: Effort Focuses on Dangers of Parental Smoking in Homes and Cars

In the first global initiative of its kind, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and members around the world will lead an initiative to promote smoke-free environments for children. "I love my smoke-free childhood" launches on World Cancer Day, 4 February, with these messages for parents: . . .

To back these messages, UICC is publishing a 40-page expert report, "Protecting our children against secondhand smoke".
"I love my smoke-free childhood" is the first focus within the World Cancer Campaign, a five-year cancer-prevention effort launched on World Cancer Day 2007. The Campaign offers parents simple steps to share with children to prevent cancer later in life. (www.worldcancercampaign.org)

Source: PR Newswire and www.tobacco.org
Date: 2008-01-24
Author: Source: International Union Against Cancer, divino@uicc.org
URL: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080124/3581219en_public.html

Cigarette sales in Switzerland in 2007 plunged to their lowest level in 40 years, with smokers purchasing 625 million packets, a drop of almost five per cent over 12 months.
While specialists says that the decrease is probably due to price increases, bans on smoking in public places and prevention campaigns, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the Swiss could do far more to fight tobacco use.
There is no precise figure for cigarette sales 40 years ago, but estimates put the number somewhere between 15 and 16 billion, or approximately 750 to 800 million packets according to the Federal Customs Office.
It was only in 1999 that sales dropped below the 750-million mark, says Stefan Schmidt, head of tobacco and beer taxation at the customs office.
Over the past ten years, sales have fallen around 17 per cent. Regular price increases have however meant that tax revenue has grown by more than half: if a packet was worth SFr4.10 ($3.70) in 1997, last year it cost SFr6.40.

The tax on cigarettes was last increased in 2007, with SFr0.30 hike. But this is just one reason why sales have slowed according to the customs office. It says that smoking bans in restaurants in some cantons and prevention campaigns are also having an effect.
The finance ministry, which oversees the customs services, is still evaluating the health and the tax revenue impact of the last price hike. Price impact
In 2005, sales fell ten per cent after prices increased by SFr0.50. "Price increases are good preventive measure when it comes to young people," said Karine Begey of the Federal Health Office.

According to the health office's own statistics, the number of teenage smokers fell from 31 per cent to 25 per cent between 2001 and 2006.
There is no doubt in health specialists' minds that price increases an efficient way of helping people stop smoking. "A ten per cent price hike means that there are five per cent fewer smokers," said earlier this month the head of the health office, Thomas Zeltner.
A new request to further increase cigarette prices should land on the finance minister's desk in the near future and a government decision is expected after the summer at the latest.
Smokers who roll their own will also be asked to fork out more to satisfy their vice. The government wants to increase the tax on fine-cut tobacco five-fold, taking it from SFr10 to SFr50 per kilogramme, while the levy on cigarette paper would be dropped.
The reasoning is traditional cigarette smokers are inclined to start rolling their own if prices keep on increasing, defeating the purpose of the tax hike. Do more

Switzerland can certainly do more to fight tobacco use. Although only 20.7 per cent of the population smokes a much better result than many European countries the WHO says the Swiss do little to apply its recommendations.
There is no national legislation banning smoking from public places, and advertising is only banned on radio and television. The WHO reckons though that it is one the tax front that the Swiss have to act.
In Switzerland, taxes represent 55 per cent of the price of a packet, whereas the WHO believes that this figure should be around 75 per cent to have a dissuasive effect on consumers.
The Swiss do plan to increase the size of warning labels on packs as well as measures to help treat nicotine addiction. However Switzerland has yet to ratify the WHO's anti-tobacco convention, which has been signed by 150 countries.

Source: swissinfo with agencies
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/search/Result.html?siteSect=882&ty=st&sid=8722767

China will survey smoking habits among key sectors, including doctors and teachers, in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities this year as it works to establish a national network of anti-smoking clinics.

The goal is to have at least one outpatient facility in each province, where smokers would be offered a combination of medical and psychological treatment depending on their nicotine dependence.

The survey, whose parameters were yet to be determined, would study whether people knew of the risks of smoking and how to stop, according to the Department of Maternal and Child Health Care and Community Health of China's Ministry of Health.

Source: www.tobacco.org and Xinhua Newswire
Date: 2008-02-15
URL: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/15/content_7610581.htm

A drop in cigarette sales prompted by England's smoking ban gathered pace at the end of last year, latest figures show.

Smokers in Britain bought 47 billion cigarettes in the past 12 months - a year-on-year dip of nearly four per cent, according to market analysts Nielsen.

The drop became more acute in the last three months of 2007 with a year-on-year drop of 6.7 per cent. This compared to a sales decline of just 0.1 per cent year-on-year during the six months before the ban came into force in England, according to Nielsen data for The Grocer.

Smokers spent more money on cigarettes in 2007 than they did the previous year but this was mainly due to higher taxes, the trade magazine says.

Sources: www.tobacco.org and Daily Mail (uk), 2008-02-25

Background: Varenicline, a new treatment for smoking cessation, has demonstrated significantly greater efficacy over placebo and sustained release bupropion (bupropion SR). Here we compare a 12-week standard regimen of varenicline with a 10-week standard regimen of transdermal nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking cessation.

Methods: In this 52-week, open-label, randomised, multicentre, phase 3 trial conducted in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States, participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive varenicline up-titrated to 1 mg twice daily for 12 weeks or transdermal nicotine (21 mg/day reducing to 7 mg/day) for 10 weeks. Non-treatment follow-up continued to Week 52. The primary outcome was biochemically confirmed (exhaled carbon monoxide of <=10 ppm) self-reported continuous abstinence rate (CAR) for the last 4 weeks of the treatment period in participants who had taken at least one dose of therapy. Secondary outcomes included CAR from the last 4 weeks of treatment through Weeks 24 and 52, and measures of craving, withdrawal and smoking satisfaction.

Results: In total, 376 and 370 participants assigned to varenicline and NRT respectively were eligible for analysis. The CAR for the last 4 weeks of treatment was significantly greater for varenicline (55.9%) than NRT (43.2%; odds ratio [OR] 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26 to 2.28, p<0.001). The Week 52 CAR (NRT,Weeks 8-52; varenicline,Weeks 9-52) was 26.1% for varenicline and 20.3% for NRT (OR 1.40, 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.99, p=0.056). Varenicline significantly reduced craving (p<0.001), withdrawal symptoms (p<0.001) and smoking satisfaction (p<0.001) versus NRT. The most frequent adverse event was nausea (varenicline, 37.2%, NRT, 9.7%).

Conclusions: The outcomes of this registered clinical trial (Clinical Trials Identification Number: NCT00143325) established that abstinence from smoking was greater, and craving, withdrawal symptoms and smoking satisfaction less, at the end of treatment with varenicline than with transdermal nicotine.

http://thorax.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/thx.2007.090647v1
http://thorax.bmj.com/cgi/rapidpdf/thx.2007.090647v1

Note: Full text PDF freely available from link immediately above.

Authors: HJ Aubin et al
Thorax. Published Online First: 8 February 2008.
doi:10.1136/thx.2007.090647

the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 has been launched on 7th February in New York City. The report can be downloaded free of charge at
www.who.int/tobacco/mpower

The report provides, for the first time, comprehensive information on the status of effective tobacco control measures in almost every country and identifies gaps in information, data and policies that must be filled. The report's key findings related to the global status of tobacco control can be summarized as follows:

More than half of countries do not have minimum monitoring information on smoking prevalence;
Only 5% of the world's population is fully covered by comprehensive smoke-free laws;
Few tobacco users get the help they need to quit;
Few countries have comprehensive pack warnings;
Few countries enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship;
Countries can save lives by raising tobacco taxes; and Global tobacco control funding is inadequate.
To address the identified tobacco epidemic, a package of six proven cost-effective tobacco control measures is introduced in the report; the MPOWER package. Each letter of the acronym MPOWER stands for one of the following six interventions:

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies.
Protect people from tobacco smoke.
Offer help to quit tobacco use.
Warn about the dangers of tobacco.
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
Raise taxes on tobacco.

When implemented and enforced as a package, the six MPOWER policies will prevent young people from beginning to smoke, help current smokers quit, protect non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke and free countries and their people from tobacco's harm. WHO, with the help of its global partners, stands ready to support Member States as they face the challenges ahead.

Quitting marijuana can cause withdrawal symptoms as severe as those from quitting tobacco, a small study suggests.
The study, of 12 adults who were heavy users of both marijuana and cigarettes, found that stopping either substance triggered similar withdrawal symptoms.
As with nicotine withdrawal, quitting marijuana caused symptoms such as irritability, anxiety, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating, researchers found.
"Marijuana is not as innocuous as some people would lead you to believe," said lead researcher Dr. Ryan Vandrey, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Source: www.tobacco.org and Reuters
Date: 2008-02-04 Author: Amy Norton, 996-2006
URL: http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKCOL45569020080204

Rate of illegal cigarette smuggling approaching same levels as heyday of the 1990s

The illegal cigarette trade is becoming increasingly brazen as cops try to keep pace with tobacco smugglers.
At the current pace, Cornwall RCMP say the number of contraband cigarettes they expect to seize in the first six months of this year will exceed the total confiscated in all of 2006.
In January, RCMP in Cornwall seized 72,000 cartons, about a third of what they seized in 2006. That year, they seized 239,322 cartons.
"Imagine if it continues like this for 10 months," said Sgt. Michael Harvey of the Cornwall RCMP.
Police have seized 17 times the amount of cigarettes since about six years ago, Harvey added.
RCMP Commissioner William Elliot told a House of Commons committee police efforts to hamper the illegal activity have "only touched the tip of the iceberg." . . .
The Canadian Coalition for Action is proposing measures to help control a problem they say has "reached crisis proportions."
The group wants to see the measures introduced in today's federal budget.
Aaron Levo, chairman of the coalition, said the problem of contraband tobacco is now at "comparable rates" to the smuggling heyday of the 1990s. . . .

The coalition's proposed measures include:
- Demand the U.S. government crack down on smuggling.
- Prohibit the supply of materials used to make tobacco products to unlicensed manufacturers.
- Establish a minimum bond of at least $5 million to obtain a federal tobacco manufacturer's licence.
- Revoke the federal licences of manufacturers acting illegally.

Source: www.tobacco.org and Ottawa (Ont) Sun, 2008-02-26
Author: ELISABETH JOHNS, SUN MEDIA

A global campaign to protect children against the dangers of secondhand smoke will be launched today (4th Feb) to mark World Cancer Day.

In the first initiative of its kind, the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) will lead a year long effort to warn parents that smoking in the home and car can expose their children to chronic health risks.
The "I love my smoke-free childhood" campaign will also urge mothers not to smoke while pregnant and encourage parents to teach children to stay away from secondhand smoke. According to the UICC, 700 million children around the world regularly breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke which increases the risk of cot death and low birthweight in babies.
UICC president Dr Franco Cavalli said it was also crucial to educate parents, "Countries with 100% smoke-free laws should be commended for their legacy to healthier families."
He added, "In these nations the percentage of children exposed to secondhand smoke has decreased over time.
While this trend is encouraging, this approach alone will not protect children from secondhand smoke."
Elspeth Lee, head of tobacco control at Cancer Research UK, said children exposed to secondhand smoke were at a particular risk because their bodies are still developing.
She said there is conclusive evidence secondhand smoke can cause respiratory illnesses including asthma and chest infections, and increase the risk of developing lung cancer.

Sources: www.ash.org.uk and The Sunday Herald, 03 February 2008
Link: http://tinyurl.com/267sdj