US: Public smoking ban would reduce heart attack admissions

The number of heart attack patients admitted to Michigan hospitals could be significantly reduced if a statewide public smoking ban were implemented, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. Researchers looked at the average number of hospital admissions from 1999-2006 in Michigan for what is known as acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack, and concluded that a smoking ban could lead to 3,340 fewer admissions annually. 

"If Michigan were to implement a comprehensive smoking ban tomorrow, we would see a 12 percent drop in heart attack admissions after the first year," says Mouaz Al-Mallah, M.D., Henry Ford's director of Cardiac Imaging Research and lead author of the study. While the study did not look at medical care costs, researchers theorize the reduction in admissions could mean substantial savings to health care providers. The average cost of a heart-attack admission in Michigan is about $16,000.

The study, funded by the hospital, will be presented Tuesday, Nov. 11 at the American Heart Association's annual conference in New Orleans. Dr. Al-Mallah says the health benefits to a smoking ban are hard to ignore. "When you smoke, you're not only hurting yourself but you're hurting me, too," he says. "The bottom line is that even if you save just one heart attack, it is something significant."

The study comes in the midst of an ongoing debate in the Michigan Legislature on whether to outlaw smoking in all public workplaces like bars, restaurants and smoke shops. Smoking already is banned in state and federal government buildings and hospitals. In September, a comprehensive smoking ban fell six votes short of approval in the Michigan House.

According to Michigan figures, nearly 22 percent of Michigan adults smoke and more than 14,000 adults die each year from their own smoking. Smoking in Michigan accounts for an estimated $3.4 billion in health care costs every year. Henry Ford's findings mirror the results of several similar studies. In 2007, a study found an 8 percent reduction in hospital admissions one year after the state of New York implemented a public smoking ban. Studies in several European countries had similar results.

Henry Ford researchers used a statistical method called meta-analysis to calculate the impact of a smoking ban and hospital admission incidence. Researchers used the average rate of hospital admissions for heart attack for the past eight years, then multiplied that rate with the attributable risk calculated from several studies -- two in Italy, one in Scotland and one each in Montana, Colorado and New York -- to estimate the projected rate of heart attack admissions in Michigan if a smoking ban was enacted.

Source: News-Medical.Net, 11 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/KrQ2A

Paul Weller smokes on stage at Cliffs Pavilion

Rock legend Paul Weller could cost a popular entertainment venue £2,500 after flouting the smoking ban on stage. Weller, former frontman of the Jam and the Style Council, performed at the Cliffs Pavilion on Saturday, where he repeatedly smoked on stage during his set. Southend Council, which owns the freehold to the Cliffs, has promised to investigate the matter and warned any breach of the smoking ban would be taken seriously.

Paul Driscoll, marketing manager for Cliffs, said there was allowance within the law which permitted artists to smoke in order to preserve “artistic integrity”. He said: “While we would always draw people’s attention to the law, there is an exception clause which allows performing acts to smoke if necessary. It is used to allow actors in period plays to portray people smoking, like Winston Churchill with a cigar. Mr Weller felt smoking was integral to the mood of his set. He had been smoking outside before, and did not smoke in his dressing room, or during the first half of his performance. Only when he came back on did he start smoking, which he felt was essential for the songs he was performing.”

Under the legislation, owners of enclosed venues can be fined up to £2,500 for allowing smoking to take place, and the smoker may be issued with a £50 fixed penalty notice. A spokeswoman for Mr Weller refused to comment.

Source: Billericay Weekly News, 11 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/wCLRe

US: Tobacco maker Altria Group to cut jobs to brace for economic turmoil ahead

Altria Group, the owner of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, confirmed on Tuesday that it has started to cut jobs because of the widespread economic turmoil. A spokesman declined to say how many cuts would be made but said they were planned for employees of parent company Altria and its cigarette unit, Philip Morris USA. Both are based in Richmond, Va.

Altria Group Inc. also owns cigar maker John Middleton and is buying smokeless tobacco company UST Inc. to pursue growth outside of cigarettes, which are in less demand from American consumers. Spokesman David Sylvia confirmed that the company is cutting jobs and said it is deciding how many layoffs there will be between now and February. He said departments that would lose employees have been told that there would be cuts. Shares of Altria fell 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to close at $17.33 Tuesday.

Altria said in August 2007 that it would cut as many as 400 positions when it moved its headquarters out of New York and spun off Philip Morris International in March of this year. The cuts were designed to save $250 million annually. An undisclosed number of those employees moved to work in the Richmond office. The latest cuts — first reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch — are in addition to those layoffs.

Altria and its subsidiaries employ more than 10,500 people. Tobacco proved to be one of the more resilient sectors during the latest round of quarterly profit reports. Altria's former unit Philip Morris International did especially well since it is positioned to capture growth in emerging markets, where cigarette sales are growing.

But when Altria reported results last month, it said the volume of Philip Morris USA's cigarette shipments fell 4.8 percent during the quarter from a year ago. Chief Executive Michael Szymanczyk said then that "because of the economic uncertainties we all face, Altria is taking steps now to continue adding value to shareholders over the long term."

Altria also said that because of difficulties in the credit markets its $10.4 billion purchase of UST had become more expensive to finance. The company plans to schedule a shareholder vote in December and hopes to close the deal by the first week of January.

Source: OrlandoSentinel.com, 12 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/fcm40

"Nazi" jibe over foster care smoking ban

Redbridge councillor Michael Stark has been branded a "Nazi" and an "ignorant pig" during a live radio debate.  Presenter Jon Gaunt was suspended over the jibes made on his national Talksport show, in reference to the decision to ban smokers from fostering in Redbridge.

Mr Gaunt, who spent time in care as a child, was interviewing Cllr Stark about the decision during the show on Friday (November 7). During the debate, cabinet member for children's services Cllr Stark stated children's welfare should be put ahead of the needs of foster families. But Mr Gaunt argued the ban could mean children in care would lose out on the chance to be fostered.

And the Foster Network have also criticised the ban, saying that while it was a "good move in terms of creating a smoke-free environment for a child", it did not agree with the "blanket ban on any smokers becoming foster carers".

A Talksport spokesman said: "When we have all the facts at our disposal, we will take whatever action, if any, that we deem appropriate." Talksport is investigating Mr Gaunt's comments to Cllr Stark after "a number of complaints" from listeners.

Source: This is Local London, 12 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/t03ap

More than a third of Cornish shops found to be breaking the law by selling tobacco to children

More than a third of Cornish shops broke the law by selling tobacco to children in a series of undercover operations. Fifteen out of 40 retailers in Cornwall sold tobacco to under-age volunteers, without asking them for identification. Offending shops caught doing so again could face a maximum fine of £25,000. The investigation by the county's trading standards officers saw children sent into stores in St Austell, Bodmin Truro, Camborne, Redruth, Falmouth and Penzance. It followed a move on October 1 last year to raise the legal age limit for buying tobacco from 16 to 18.

Trading standards officer Julie Benson said: "We were extremely disappointed with this result, particularly because we carried out the investigation during half-term week. We had hoped that this would mean retailers were being more vigilant with regard to under-age sales because of an increase of young people being out in towns rather than at school. Aside from anything else, the health of these young people is at stake if they are smoking at such a young age."

Ms Benson said the 40 targeted shops were being revisited to allow trading standards officers to check that the right systems were in place to prevent under-age sales of tobacco. Officers were also due to hand out advice on extra measures such as staff training. Those retailers that did not sell tobacco to children will be congratulated while their point-of-sale advertising will be examined to ensure it fits in with the law.

Ms Benson added: "The premises that sold cigarettes to persons under 18 did so for the first time and therefore we want to work with them to help prevent an occurrence. We would see prosecution as a last resort for persistent offenders. If future sales are made at premises that have sold previously, the ultimate sanction could be prosecution which carries a maximum fine of up to £2,500 but any decision is made on a case-to-case basis and in accordance with our enforcement policy."

Lynda Quee, manager of the Primary Care Trust's 'stop smoking' service, said it was important that young people were discouraged from taking up the habit. "The younger someone starts smoking, the more likely they are to suffer ill health and die early because of it," she warned. "Young people quickly become addicted to nicotine which makes it more difficult to stop smoking. Easy access to cigarettes is an important element to whether a young person takes up the habit."

Source: thisiscornwall.co.uk, 11 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/gYfqi

Racial convergence in cigarette use from adolescence to the mid-thirties; study

African-Americans are much less likely to smoke than whites are during their teens. However, a new study finds that most of this advantage disappears by mid-adulthood.

"There is a puzzle here in that usually the health disadvantages in African-Americans show up early in life and get worse as they get older," says Fred Pampel, Ph.D., a sociology professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "For cigarette smoking, African-Americans tend to act in a more healthy way during their teens, but that advantage goes away by middle age."

The study appears in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior . Pampel used data from two surveys to make his conclusions. The National Youth Survey followed the same group of people between ages 12 to 18 in 1977 for 15 years through 1992. The National Health Interview Survey questioned different samples of people 18 and older for 30 years ending in 2006. Pampel looked at groups of white and black teens to see how their cigarette smoking patterns changed as they aged.

"The analysis found that this change is indeed real," said Pampel, and "the disappearance at older ages of the African-American advantage during the teens is more apparent among younger generations than older ones. The narrowing differential appears to result from the greater resources that are available to whites than African-Americans. Resources such as higher income, more education, better access to medical care and greater use of nicotine replacement products help whites quit at a faster rate," Pampel said.

C. Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the study did not factor in possible socio-demographic differences in exposure to higher tobacco prices and taxes, which "deter youth onset and promote quitting, especially among low-income smokers, and protection by worksite and comprehensive smoke-free airs laws, which affect adult cessation more than youth initiation."

Gary Giovino, Ph.D., at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, does not necessarily agree with the study's conclusions. "I have seen the substantially reduced smoking prevalence among African-American adolescents carry over to young adults aged 30 to 34 years, suggesting greater progress and resilience than is indicated by this article," Giovino said.

Source: News-Medical.Net, 10 November 2008
Link: http://tiny.cc/7QfNU