ASH Daily News for 01/12/2000
HEADLINES
ASH, 102 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HW Tel: 0207 739 5902
Fax: 0207 613 0531
ASH Daily News
Friday 1 December 2000
Headlines
Christy Turlington has emphysema
MCA warns against panic over Zyban risks
Full Text
Christy Turlington has emphysema
Christy Turlington, the model chosen to front the latest government
anti-smoking campaign, has disclosed that she has early-stage emphysema,
despite having given up smoking at the age of 26. The discovery of the
disease surprised specialists at Weil medical centre, New York, where Ms
Turlington, now aged 31, volunteered for a lung scan to raise public
awareness of the latest technology. Ms Turlington said she hoped her own
experience would shock teenagers into realising the damage that cigarettes
could do. Dr. Claudia Henscke, the doctor who diagnosed Christy's
emphysema, said she did not expect the disease to worsen now that Christy
had given up smoking. Dr. Henscke said that treatments were being developed
that might help early stage emphysema. Christy Turlington became an avid
supporter of the non-smoking cause following the death of her father from
lung cancer.
Source: The Times, Daily Star, Metro London, the Mirror, 1/12/00
MCA warns against panic over Zyban risks
The Medicines Control Agency has played down a possible link between the
smoking cessation aid Zyban and stroke. The MCA confirmed that it had
received seven reports of patients who have had strokes while taking Zyban
but that said this does not mean that that Zyban caused the strokes. While
the reports are being investigated, the MCA reminded GPs not to prescribe
the drug to patients with a history of, or low risk threshold for, seizures.
Source: The Doctor, GP, 23/11/00
Karl Brookes
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5902
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7613 0531
http://www.ash.org.uk
