Gene affects pregnant women's smoking habits

Pregnant women with a particular variant of a gene linked to smoking dependency may have a tougher time kicking the habit, a new study suggests.

The variant in question is found in a cluster of nicotine-receptor genes on chromosome 15q24 that has been linked to smoking addiction.

Previous studies found that women with this gene variant smoked more cigarettes per day than smokers without the variant.

For many female smokers, pregnancy is the push they need to quit the habit; however, some pregnant women still have a difficult time giving up smoking.

For the new study, published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics, UK researchers looked at whether the 15q24 variant might play a role in pregnant smokers' odds of quitting.

Lead investigator Dr. Rachel M. Freathy, of Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, found that among nearly 2,500 female smokers who became pregnant, those who carried the gene variant were less likely to quit. Twenty-one percent of women with two copies of the gene variant said they had quit in the first trimester, compared with 31 percent of women without the gene variant who reported quitting in the first trimester.

The gap was still apparent in the third trimester, the researchers found. One third of women with two copies of the "addictive" gene variant had quit, compared with 47 percent of women without the variant.

While the findings show that genes may play some role in smoking cessation, they are far from being the whole story, the researchers say.

"A considerable number of women in our study still managed to quit smoking even though they carried two addictive copies of the gene," Freathy said.

"The gene may make it harder to quit," she said, "but not impossible."

These findings could eventually be used to identify women who need extra help with smoking cessation, according to Freathy. But more studies would be needed to test that idea, she said.

Source: Reuters, 28 May 2009  
Link: http://tinyurl.com/lqhnhc

European Union: Commission launches new anti-smoking TV campaign to mark World No Tobacco Day

To mark the World No Tobacco Day, the Commission launches the second phase of its ‘HELP for a life without tobacco’ campaign.

On 31 May, three new TV spots will be shown on over 100 TV channels across Europe for one month and repeated during the month of September. The TV spots, developed with young people, use humour to deliver three serious messages: don’t start smoking, how to quit smoking and dangers of secondhand smoke.

The Commission supports the view that pictures speak louder than words, especially in tobacco control. As a result, in 2005, the Commission created a picture library of 42 graphic images to accompany the mandatory health warnings on tobacco packs. The Commission plans to renew the current health warnings in 2010.

EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said: "A third of all Europeans are smokers and although we have seen a decrease in recent years, we must continue to prevent young people from taking up this deadly habit. I hope our efforts to de-glamorise tobacco through pictorial warnings and engaging young people through the HELP campaign will lead to a new generation that says no to tobacco. “

Tobacco remains the largest single cause of premature death and disease in the European Union. It causes more than 650,000 premature deaths in the EU each year – which corresponds to about 1,800 deaths a day. These deaths could be avoided.

The new HELP 2.0 campaign builds on lessons learned from the first HELP campaign (2005-2008) and features a brand new website and 3 new TV spots.

Young people are not only the target but also participate in the strategy and development of the campaign. The three TV spots show an original approach to this issue: some fairly absurd and humorous tips draw the attention of the public in order to lead them to the serious message: real help and advice can be found on the HELP website. Young people are invited to contribute their own anti-smoking tips on the campaign’s website and even record their own ‘anti-smoking tips’ at local awareness raising HELP events. The Internet – the main communication tool of young people - is the nucleus of the HELP 2.0 campaign. All campaign actions - the TV spots, the Internet banner campaign, and the local HELP events – lead to the new www.help-eu.com website. By posting your mobile phone number on the website, you receive a link to the special version for mobile phones: ‘Help in my pocket’.

Health Warnings – the theme of World No Tobacco Day 2009

Health warnings on tobacco packs are an excellent tool to communicate the health risks of tobacco and "de-glamorise" its use in society. Someone who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day is confronted with these warnings over 7000 times a year. The EU has been one of the pioneers in introducing large health warnings on all tobacco products. A third of EU citizens claim that the warnings are effective in informing them about the health risks of tobacco, according to the results of latest Eurobarometer on tobacco. One fifth of smokers say the warnings encourage them to smoke less or to quit.

"A picture speaks a thousand words"

To reinforce the impact of textual warnings, the Commission adopted a library of 42 colour pictures in May 2005. Member States are encouraged to use the pictures in combination with textual warnings. Such picture warnings are much more powerful than pure text in educating the public about the health risks of tobacco, preventing uptake and encouraging cessation. They speak to everyone, including children and young people. More than half (55%) of EU citizens believe that adding a colour picture to a text-only health warning strengthens the effectiveness of the message.

So far, picture warnings have been introduced in Belgium, Romania and the UK. Latvia is due to follow suit in March 2010 while France, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Poland and Spain plan to introduce pictorials in the near future. The Commission has also given the right to use EU images to several countries outside the European Union. The Commission urges all the Member States to make use of pictorial warnings.

Background

Over the last 20 years, The Commission has pursued a comprehensive tobacco control policy aimed at reducing tobacco consumption. The objective is to maintain and strengthen tobacco control policy efforts through a range of mechanisms, activities and initiatives including tobacco control legislation and prevention and cessation activities.

The EU is also bringing experience and expertise to the global arena. For example, the EU Tobacco Advertising Directive came into effect in July 2005. It banned cross-border tobacco advertising and tobacco sponsorship of events such as Formula One. After the European Union had completely banned tobacco sponsorship in Formula One, the rest of the world followed suit. In 2008, television viewers witnessed the first tobacco free Formula One season.

For more information:

HELP - for a life without tobacco campaign:

www.help-eu.com

Source: Europa, 28 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/myx2fc

Saskatchewan to impose long-awaited workplace smoking ban on Sunday

Tobacco control advocates are hoping the workplace smoking ban in Saskatchewan, which takes effect Sunday, will reduce smoking rates in this province.

For three years running Saskatchewan has had the highest smoking rates in the country and the highest youth smoking rate, said Donna Pasiechnik, the Canadian Cancer Society Saskatchewan's tobacco control co-ordinator.

"That is a big concern to the Canadian Cancer Society, and should be a concern to everyone living in this province, because tobacco use is the No. 1 preventable cause of deaths and sickness in this country,'' Ms. Pasiechnik said.

The workplace ban is a first step towards reducing those rates and providing Saskatchewan workers protection against second-hand smoke, she added.

Sunday's launch of the workplace smoking ban coincides with World No Tobacco Day.

"This is a fitting day to launch a smoking ban to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke (in the workplace),'' Advanced Education, Employment and Labour Minister Rob Norris said in a news release.

The ban is the result of amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations which prohibits smoking in all enclosed places of employment, including buildings, vehicles, other enclosed structures and underground mines.

The only exceptions are: Traditional First Nations and Métis spiritual ceremonies where permission is granted; designated smoking rooms for residents and visitors (such as in special-care homes) that are allowed by the Ministry of Health's tobacco control legislation; areas of underground mines that are located more than 10 metres from other workers; and some self-employed businesses, vehicles and camp living accommodations with permission and when others are not present.

Initially the focus will be on education with the hope that any complaints can be resolved in the workplace. However if there are ongoing non-compliance issues, the ministry's OHS investigators will get involved. Notices of contraventions requiring the employer to comply with the ban will be issued and repeated flagrant disregard of the ban could result in charges being laid.

The workplace ban is a first step, Ms. Pasiechnik said, noting that to reduce smoking rates Saskatchewan has to look at a much larger comprehensive tobacco-control plan. The cancer society is currently working with other health groups and the Ministry of Health to develop such a strategy.

"There are a number of measures we would like to see the government adopt, everything from better tobacco taxation policies to placing more restrictions on where people can smoke, including in cars with children,'' she said.
 

Source: National Post, 28 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/noef8w]

Group wants R rating for any film with smoking

Smoking in youth-rated movies has not declined despite a pledge two years ago by Hollywood studios to encourage producers to show less "gratuitous smoking," according to an anti-smoking group.

The American Medical Association Alliance has been trying to get movie studios to make smoking-free films.

The American Medical Association Alliance, pointing to research that big-screen smoking leads teens to pick up the tobacco habit, called for an R rating for any movie with smoking scenes.

The head of the group that gives U.S. movies their ratings, however, said the smoke has been clearing from youth rated movies, a result of the film industry's sensitivity to the issue.

The alliance, the medical association's advocacy arm, launched a summer campaign this week aimed at publicly shaming studios into making smokefree films.

"Research has shown that one-third to one-half of all young smokers in the United States can be attributed to smoking these youth see in movies," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, head of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.

Fielding cited another study that he said "found that adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoked on screen are significantly more likely to be smokers themselves and to have a more accepting attitude toward smoking."

The Motion Picture Association of America, the industry group that issues ratings and parental guidance for U.S. films, added smoking scenes as a factor in ratings two years ago, but Fielding said it has not made a difference.

"In all, 56 percent of the top box office movies with smoking released between May 2007 and May 2009 were youth-rated films -- G, PG or PG-13," he said.

Joan Graves, who chairs the Motion Picture Association's movie rating committee, offered her own statistics, based on all of the 900 films rated each year, not just the top movies included in Fielding's numbers.

The association has given no G ratings in the past two years to a movie with smoking, Graves said.

Overall, 55 percent of the movies rated in the past two years showed some smoking, but 75 percent of those with smoking scenes were given R ratings, Graves said. Twenty-one percent were rated PG-13 and the remaining 5 percent were PG, she said.

A G movie is deemed suitable for all audiences, while a PG rating is a signal to parents that a film may include some material they might consider inappropriate for children. PG-13 indicates a stronger warning that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

No one under 17 can be admitted to see an R movie without a parent or guardian.

American Medical Association Alliance President Sandi Frost used as her chief example of a movie with "gratuitous smoking" this month's blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which was rated PG-13 "for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity."

"Millions of children have been exposed to the main star of the film, Hugh Jackman, with a cigar in his mouth in various scenes," Frost said. "I'm willing to bet that not one child would have enjoyed that movie or Mr. Jackman's performance any less if he hadn't been smoking."

A spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox, the studio responsible for the Wolverine movie series, said Jackman's cigar was never lit and it was limited to just two scenes.

In one scene, the cigar is shot out of his mouth, prompting Jackman's Wolverine character to suggest its loss would lead to clean living -- an anti-smoking statement -- the studio spokesman said.

He said that while the Wolverine character has a cigar in his mouth in almost every panel of the comic book series, producers made "a conscious decision" to limit the cigar in the movie.

The American Medical Association Alliance, hoping to draw studio executives' attention, hired a mobile billboard to drive around the major studios this week.

"The billboard shows a teenage girl asking the question, 'Which movie studios will cause me to smoke this summer?' " Frost said.

The alliance will keep an online scorecard throughout the summer to count "how many tobacco impressions each studio delivers to G, PG and PG-13 audiences," she said.

"At the end of the summer, whichever studio has delivered the most tobacco impressions to youth audiences will be named in a billboard that will run outside of their headquarters," she said.

Motion Picture Association of America spokeswoman Angela Martinez said the group "is very sensitive to the concerns of parents about the purpose of the rating systems."

"It's reflective of society," Martinez said. "It's really a tool for parents to help determine what their kids see."

They began factoring smoking scenes into the ratings two years ago as "a reflection of changes in society and health concerns," she said.

"Smoking is rated like all the other factors, including violence and sex," she said.

Fielding said it should be absolute -- and not just a factor.

"Any movie with smoking should be rated R," he said. "And if they worry about an R rating hurting their profits, then they should work with studios to remove smoking from films that hurt youth."

Graves, whose committee makes the decisions, indicated such a zero-tolerance policy would not be accepted.

Source: CNN, 28 May 2009
Link: http://tinyurl.com/mlxmlu