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ASH News and Events Bulletin - 01-15 June 2010

HEADLINES

EVENTS

  • Not in vogue: World No Tobacco Day targets women, girls

    World No Tobacco Day kicked off on Monday aimed at women and girl smokers with posters warning "Chic? No, throat cancer", as health officials said tobacco firms were targeting young women as they became affluent.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) theme for the global anti-smoking day is "gender and tobacco" and the harmful effects of tobacco marketing and smoking on women and girls.

    WHO said tobacco firms are spending heavily on alluring marketing campaigns targeting women as they gain spending power and independence, particularly in Asia's booming economies.

    It is estimated that more than 8 percent of girls between 13 and 15, or around 4.7 million girls, are using tobacco products in the Asia-Pacific region, said the WHO.

    Indian doctors said there had been a considerable increase in women smoking, especially among young college girls, attributing the rise to stress, peer pressure and high disposable incomes.

    "It's a cause of concern that literate women in sectors like business, medicine...college girls from the higher strata of the society are getting addicted to the habit," Dr Pradyut Waghre at Apollo Hospitals told The Times of India newspaper.

    Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world, currently responsible for the death of one in 10 adults worldwide, or about 5 million deaths each year, said the WHO.

    Women make up about 20 percent of the world's 1 billion smokers, but if current tobacco usage continues smoking will kill 8 million people a year by 2030 -- 2.5 million will be women.

    Each day 3,000 people die from tobacco use in Asia-Pacific, with smoking and chewing tobacco among women and girls on the rise, said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

    "Starting early results in addiction that later translates to a life of nicotine dependence, poor health and premature death," said Shin.

    In Cambodia some 17 percent of women, but only one percent of men, chew tobacco. It is estimated that more than a half million middle-aged and older women in Cambodia chew tobacco, believing it alleviates morning sickness during pregnancy.

    A YouTube video of an Indonesian two-year-old boy, who reportedly smokes two packs of cigarettes a day, angered anti-smoking groups around the world last week. The video has been removed by YouTube.

    "The tobacco industry is thriving and if we look at our society, even children have started to smoke," Krida Wacana Christian University (Ukrida) student Stefano Leatemia told The Jakarta Post newspaper on Monday.

    A rally of Indonesian university students on Sunday called for tougher controls on tobacco.

    WHO is calling for comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship to protect women and girls from images that portray smoking as glamorous or fashionable. Only half of the nations in the Asia-Pacific have bans on tobacco advertising.

    India's Waghre said there was an increase in lung cancer among women in India, which was not there in the last decade, due to not only direct but also passive smoking. Close to half of all women in the Asia-Pacific are exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes or in the workplace, often due to cultural and social norms, which can lead to cause lung cancer, heart disease and respiratory conditions, said WHO.

    A study in Shanghai of 72,000 non-smoking women found that exposure to their husbands' smoking increased their risks of dying from lung cancer and heart disease by almost 40 percent. The women also had a nearly 50 percent higher risk of stroke.

    Source: Reuters - 31 May 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aA376m

  • Developing world ‘must be warned about smoking’

    A systematic investigation of the economic burden of smoking is needed to convince poorer countries of the devastating impact it is having on their growth and development, one of the world’s leading health economists told The Times Cheltenham Science Festival.

    Ok Pannenborg, who retired as chief health adviser at the World Bank in March, said that countries were failing to grasp the urgent need for proper anti-tobacco strategies to address its crippling effect on health services, workforces and the wider community.

    In an interview with The Times, Dr Pannenborg, now a special representative to the World Health Organisation, said economic analysis of smoking would persuade developing nations of the need for legislation, taxation and more targeted education programmes.

    Policies such as a tobacco surcharge to pay for smoking-related health costs should be considered by the countries worst affected. East Asia and the Pacific has the highest smoking rate, with nearly two thirds of men smoking.

    Dr Pannenborg, whose talk was called The Smoking World, said a paper published by the British Medical Journal linking the smoking ban with a fall in hospital heart-attack admissions, was the sort of evidence that could show the efficacy of such measures.“The legacy of the likes of Doll is incredibly important as a base. But unfortunately there have been insufficient follow-up studies on an economic side,” he said, adding that most calculations were too generic to spur nations to act.

    “Countries have insufficiently analysed the costs of smoking to their economy. When the correlations and causality become clear, the stronger you can make those vital arguments.

    “You need robust economic analyses of the macroeconomics linked to the smoking patterns that are emerging. And in countries like China, India and Brazil, where you have very high prevalence rates, those will be very big.”

    Source: The Times, 11 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cb9Omz

  • Update on the smoking baby

    We’ve all been shocked by the photos of Ardi Rizal, the smoking 2-year-old from Indonesia.

    His 30-year-old father started his son on cigarette smoking at just 18 months old because the baby had a hernia. The 2-year-old now smokes 40 cigarettes a day!

    Ardi’s mother who is 26-years-old told CNN that she was smoking when she was pregnant, but after she gave birth she quit. She said her baby would just smell smoke and be happy.

    According to an article by by Krisa Van Meurs, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics Stanford University School of Medicine, cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including truly nasty things like cyanide, lead, and at least 60 cancer-causing compounds. When you smoke during pregnancy, that toxic brew gets into your bloodstream, your baby's only source of oxygen and nutrients.

    Smoking during pregnancy can have lifelong effects on your baby's brain. Children of pregnant smokers are especially likely to have learning disorders behavioral problems, and relatively low IQs. 

    It’s a known fact that second-hand smokers are likely to become smokers. Ardi became addicted in the womb and is now a true nicotine addict.

    When his parents say he throws a tantrum when refused cigarettes, that makes sense with an addition.
    There is also the issue of Ardi weighing 44 pounds at the age of two.

    And the Indonesian government adds to this by having weak tobacco control regulations. They receive billions of dollars in annual revenue from tobacco sales. Their ad campaigns encourage even the youngest to smoke. 

    According to Indonesian Child Protection Commission chairman Hadi Supeno, “There are many children under five years of age who have started smoking. A decade ago, the average age of beginner smokers was 19, but a recent study found that the average is seven.”

    Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 percent of Indonesian children aged 3 to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 percent of those active smokers.

    The percentage of 5- to 9-year-olds lighting up increased from 0.4 percent in 2001 to 2.8 percent in 2004, the agency reported.

    According to the American Lung Association web site “Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 deaths from lung cancer and 22,700 to 69,600 deaths from heart disease each year.”

    Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, blames the increase on aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers. "A law to protect children and passive smokers should be introduced immediately in this country," he said.

    A health law passed in 2009 formally recognizes that smoking is addictive, and an anti-smoking coalition is pushing for tighter restrictions on smoking in public places, advertising bans and bigger health warnings on cigarette packages.

    But a bill on tobacco control has been stalled because of opposition from the tobacco industry. The bill would ban cigarette advertising and sponsorship, prohibit smoking in public, and add graphic images to packaging.

    Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih conceded turning young people off smoking will be difficult in a country where it is perceived as positive because cigarette companies sponsor everything from scholarships to sporting events.

    Ardi’s mother told CNN that both she and her husband have quit smoking. She hopes Ardi will quit soon. She added that she learned that she can't use force to stop him, but she needs to be gentle and try to distract him.

    Distraction does not sooth an addict.  And no one has even addressed the child's obesity. This child needs medical attention. 

    Clearly this is a case of child neglect and abuse by Ardi’s parents, his government and the cigarette companies. 

    Source: The Examiner - 06 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aCdRPi

  • Tobacco could help save lives, UC Davis team says

    The tobacco plant has rightly earned its deadly reputation. But a student team at UC Davis suggests tobacco could be used to produce vaccines more quickly and cheaply than traditional methods.

    "To summarize, we would be using tobacco plants to help save lives," said team leader Lucas Arzola, a graduate student in chemical engineering.

    Arzola and his three teammates were awarded $15,000 in a campus business plan competition known as Big Bang for their proposal to grow and extract vaccines from the leaves of the tobacco plant. Arzola said a tobacco plant can produce a viable vaccine in as little as a week and is cheaper than using eggs or cell cultures.

    The team, known as Inserogen, chose tobacco over other plants because it grows quickly and is not a food crop. Team member Bob Kays said they also realized the beneficial use of tobacco would attract attention. "I think this is an opportunity where tobacco can be used in a good sense," Kays said.

    Team member Gabriel Paulino said the goal is to obtain patents and venture capital to prove the commercial potential of vaccines produced by tobacco leaves.

    Source: ABC News 10 - 03 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9zUthM

  • A functional electric sports car created out of 10,280 cigarette packets

    To mark the ‘No Tobacco Day’ on 31 May and to show the concerns about the cause of environmental health and love of cars, a team of five undergraduate students in Xi’an, China made an anti-smoking sports car from discarded cigarette cases.

    The all electric car is of the same size as a real car and weighs 300kgs. And on the top of that it actually runs. Made while meticulously putting 10,280 discarded cigarette packets one after the other, it took eight months to give this vehicle present shape.

    The team was helped by more than 2500 students to collect the discarded cigarette packets. The eco friendly car appeared in the Xi’an Electrical and Information Institute and attracted thousands of students.
     

    [Pictures can be viewed by following the link below]

    Source: Auto Motto - 03 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9LVjlN

  • Lords question: Government smoking-cessation programmes

    Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, given the huge success of the tobacco-control legislation passed in the previous Parliament, which has already produced so many benefits including, as we have seen from recent statistics, a dramatic reduction in the number of heart-attack victims admitted to hospital, will the Minister give an assurance that the excellent smoking-cessation programmes run by his department will be exempted from any programme of cuts?

    Earl Howe: My Lords, smoking cessation is extremely important as a public health measure. I am sure the noble Lord will know that the coalition Government have set great store by their public health agenda. I cannot imagine that smoking cessation is going to disappear off the radar.
     

    Source: Parliament UK - 14 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/aOxbgW

  • NASCO teams with Smokefree Innotec in joint venture for international distribution

    Ralph Angiuoli, Chairman of NASCO Specialty Brands, LLC. and former President of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, and Thomas Schroepfer, CEO of Smokefree Innotec Inc. announced today that they have signed a joint venture to develop new national and international branding and distribution of their respective company products. Mr. Angiuoli stated, “We look forward with enthusiasm to SFI’s applying its proprietary methods to NASCO’s tobacco-free cigarette products, already in worldwide distribution, to create additional new products dispensing nicotine employing SFI’s nanotechnology and NASCO’s packaging and manufacturing capabilities.”

    Mr. Schroepfer added “We are very pleased to cement our relationship with NASCO, an experienced company, to what we feel to be profitable for both corporations and their shareholders. We look forward to expanding this relationship into additional products and distribution channels worldwide. SFI’s penetration into the international market is already rapidly expanding as reflected by a $70,000 initial order received from one of the largest vending machine operators in the European Union, with over 70,000 locations.”

    The management of both companies acknowledged their appreciation that they were brought together in this joint venture as another one of the successful business partnerships initiated by Leading Points
    Corporation, whose mission is matching industry leaders in order to capture market share.

    Source: EuroInvestor - 14 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9T9kE6

  • Imperial Tobacco bolstered by talk of acquisitions

    Imperial Tobacco was among the talking points yesterday as the London market broke a three-day losing streak.

    Imperial closed up 1.1 per cent to £19.10 amid speculation that Alison Cooper, new chief executive, was weighing up potential acquisitions. Lorillard, America's third-largest tobacco company, was said to be among the possible targets.

    Dealers reported gossip that Imperial might offer $90 a share for Lorillard, which would value the maker of Kent and Newport cigarettes at about $14bn.

    Analysts doubted the tale. While Lorillard's US-only strategy made it a reasonable fit for Imperial, Ms Cooper had emphasised to investors that her focus was on organic growth and paying down the £12bn of net debt left from its purchase of Altadis in 2008, they said.

    The smallest of the global tobacco makers, Imperial itself has been seen as more likely to become a break-up target than a predator over the medium term.

    [...]

    Source: Financial Times - 10 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/9xXHP2

  • USA: Legal loophole costs $250 million

    According to public health officials, a loophole in President Obama's children's health insurance program cost the government more than $250 million in tobacco revenue in its first year, the Associated Press reports.

    The loophole allowed companies to avoid large tax increases on loose rolling tobacco by relabeling their product as pipe tobacco. The result was a tax of $2.83 per pound, rather than $24.78 per pound that is assessed on rolling tobacco.

    The technicality prompted tobacco companies to beef up production of pipe tobacco to record levels and decrease production of roll-your-own tobacco.

    The loophole was identified last November though it was unclear at the time whether the production shift was short-term or represented a long-term trend.

    The trend has not slowed. In March, tobacco firms produced more than 2 million pounds of pipe tobacco, a record month for an industry that produced roughly 270,000 pounds a month prior to the tax change.

    While the Obama administration said last year that it would release new rules for distinguishing between roll-your-own tobacco and pipe tobacco, it has yet to do so.

    "We're still studying, from a technical standpoint, how to distinguish between the two products," said Arthur Resnick, a spokesman for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

    The Obama administration said the only distinction between pipe tobacco currently produced and roll-your-own tobacco is in product labeling.

    The Pipe Tobacco Council (PTC) said that it supports regulations distinguishing between traditional pipe tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco, which the organization maintains is being mislabeled.

    "It's not really a loophole. It's fraud," said PTC spokesperson Norman Sharp.

    Source: NACS Online - 03 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/dlK3fF

  • Tobacco companies profit from child labour in Malawi

    Britain’s Channel 4 programme “Unreported World” has highlighted the ongoing use of child labour in tobacco harvesting in Malawi. Presenter Jenny Kleeman went to tobacco growing areas of the country to see for herself the use of child labour.

    Filmed in an area of the country near the Zambia border, Kleeman spoke to a group of women and children, some just toddlers, sorting tobacco leaves at the side of the road. One woman with three children helping her said that she would earn around 80 pence for the day’s work.

    A group of tenant farmers harvesting tobacco in the fields lived in pitiable conditions. One woman with several children explained how the farm’s owner would insist on a quota of one and half carts of tobacco leaves being harvested each day. The only way she could meet the quota was by having her children help in the harvest. She told Kleeman that as a tenant farmer her income was about £18 a year. Such low wages mean many tenant farmers have to borrow money from the farm owners and end up in debt, becoming bonded labourers.

    A common problem of those harvesting and sorting the tobacco leaves was green tobacco sickness. This is brought about by nicotine absorption through the skin and results in severe headaches and racking coughs, leading to chest problems. In developed countries such as the United States, workers on tobacco farms are provided with protective clothing.

    Kleeman interviewed one farmer asking why he paid such low wages and provided no protective clothing. He said that it was because he was paid such low prices for his tobacco at the leaf auctions. The prices paid at such auctions were being pushed down and the government gave them no price protection, he said.

    Half of the child labourers in Malawi are under nine years old. Kleeman spoke to the head teacher of one primary school, who said that around a third of his pupils were absent as they were helping with the tobacco harvest. The absences would mean the children would fail their exams and not be able to go on to secondary school, giving them no chance of breaking out of the circle of poverty associated with tobacco farming.

    Kleeman examined claims of child trafficking associated with tobacco harvesting, visiting one charity that had been able to rescue such children from tobacco farms. The children told of being recruited by farm owners touring villages. The dire levels of poverty suffered by their families left them open to such practices.

    Child labour is illegal in Malawi, but is tolerated by the authorities. The programme heard of one case of a farmer who was also a politician, who employs children. Although he was reported to the authorities by a charity, he was let off with a caution. There is a penalty of five years jail and fines, but no one had been prosecuted.
    The programme filmed the auction of the harvested tobacco in the city of Lilongwe. Last year at such auctions 232 million kilograms of tobacco were sold throughout Malawi. At the Lilongwe auctions leaf buying companies will spend US$2.5 million a day buying up the tobacco brought in by the farmers. The Malawi anti-corruption bureau has accused the companies of colluding to keep prices low. A government minimum price level is ignored. Last year Malawi deported four executives from leaf buying companies for offering low prices.

    The leaf buying companies sell on the tobacco to the big companies such as British American Tobacco and Phillip Morris. The tobacco picked and sorted by child labour ends up being sold on to these big companies.

    After pointing this out to the big tobacco companies, Kleeman explained that the local fixer the programme had employed was detained for 10 hours by the Ministry of Labour, who questioned him about where they had filmed, etc. The tobacco companies told the programme they were opposed to the use of child labour and had supported projects to help sanitation and education within Malawi. The companies had in fact spent around US$6.5 million over eight years and in only two out of the 28 districts that make up Malawi.

    Commercial tobacco was first grown in Malawi in 1889, when US settlers from the State of Virginia introduced the crop. From the 1960s onward the growing of tobacco began to be switched from the Americas to Africa and Asia. Malawi today is amongst the top 10 tobacco producing countries and earns 70 percent of its foreign exchange from tobacco.

    Tobacco production used to be highly controlled by the government, but following IMF structural adjustment directives brought in at the end of the 1980s production by small-scale farmers on rented land has increased rapidly.

    This process has locked these small farmers and their families into a circle of poverty. A February 25, 2008 Corp Watch article, “Playing with Children’s Lives: Big Tobacco in Malawi”, explained:
    “The Malawi Tobacco Control Commission (TCC), a local government watchdog for the tobacco market, estimates that it takes $1 for farm workers to produce a kilogram of tobacco, which they usually sell at $0.70 for a loss of $0.30 per kilo. Hard working farmers who cannot make a living turn to child labour.”

    Around a f ifth of Malawians rely on tobacco production for their income. The vast majority of these are extremely poor.

    The use of child labour in Malawi is entrenched. A report by the Norwegian base Institute for Applied Social Science, FAFO, published in October 2000 explained:

    “While accurate systematic data is lacking, some work has been done indicating that child labour in Malawi is widespread and increasing… Studies indicate that child labour is much higher on the tobacco estates. Malawi is generally regarded as one of the countries in the region with the highest incidence of child labour.”

    Like other impoverished countries, Malawi has suffered terribly from the global economic crisis.

    hile some mineral exporting countries have experienced continuing demand for their commodities, most of the former colonial countries have seen a decline in exports, falling commodity prices, disinvestment and reduced aid. The result is that their debt levels are increasing once again. Poverty is worsening as a result, with children suffering most.

    Source: World Socialist Website - 03 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cGD8pB

  • Deprivation underlies thousands of cancer cases every year

    There could be as many as 14,000 fewer cases of cancer each year in England if everyone was as healthy as the richest 20 per cent in the country.

    And the difference between the classes is more marked among men than women. Among men there were 21 per cent more cases of cancer in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived, whereas the gap among women was 11 per cent.

    The report from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) published in support of the National Cancer Equalities Initiative (NCEI), which launches the new Cancer Equalities Portal, highlights a huge deprivation gap that experts believe is caused by unhealthy habits like smoking, late diagnosis of cancer, differences in treatment choices and a lower uptake of screening in more deprived areas.

    The Cancer Equalities Portal, published ahead of the annual NCIN conference this week, brings together a range of information on cancer treatment, screening, incidence and survival with the aim of tackling inequalities across England.

    Chris Carrigan, head of the NCIN, said: "People are generally more likely to smoke or be obese in the most deprived areas. In addition to the higher rates, lower awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer - leading to later diagnosis - may further increase poorer people's risk of dying from the disease.

    "These results explain why urgent action must be taken to improve the health of people living in deprived areas, and to ensure that all cancer patients have an equal chance of surviving the disease.

    "Poverty is the main reason for cancer inequalities, but this is the first time all the information we have on inequalities has been brought together in an accessible form. Deprivation is one of the biggest causes of cancer inequalities in this country."

    Between 2000 and 2004, in the most affluent areas of England, 345 in every 100,000 people were diagnosed with cancer compared with 399 in every 100,000 in the most deprived areas a difference of 16 per cent.

    Chris Carrigan, head of the NCIN, continued: "Although men are generally more likely to get cancer, much of the difference we see here is down to lung cancer - the most common cause of cancer death. It accounts for a bigger proportion of men's cancers than women's cancers."

    Lung, head and neck, oesophageal, bladder, cervical, stomach and liver cancers were more common among those living in deprived areas. In contrast malignant melanoma, breast and prostate cancers were associated with affluence.

    Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: "It's incredibly important that we reduce inequalities in cancer care.

    "Late diagnosis, uptake of screening and variations in treatment choice are all factors we are looking at very closely.

    "But everyone can do their bit too by eating sensibly, giving up smoking and seeing a GP as soon as possible if they have concerns."

    Professor Sir Mike Richards, national cancer director, said: "Our vision is to achieve high quality, personal treatment and care for everyone affected by cancer but we know that inequalities between different groups still exist. The information brought together in the Cancer Equalities Portal highlights the scale of this challenge but will also help us to tackle the problems and allow us to measure our success."  

    Source: Medical News Today - 14 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/bNpZUE

  • Children effectively protected from secondhand smoke by smoke-free air laws

    Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that children and adolescents living in non-smoking homes in counties with laws promoting smoke-free public places have significantly lower levels of a common biomarker of secondhand smoke exposure than those living in counties with no smoke-free laws.

    The children living in non-smoking homes in U.S. counties with smoke-free laws had 39% lower prevalence of cotinine in their blood, an indicator of tobacco smoke exposure, compared to those living in counties with no smoke-free laws. Children living in homes with smokers exhibited little or no benefit from the smoke-free laws.

    The study appears in the June 7, 2010 advance online edition of the journal Pediatrics.

    "The findings suggest that smoke-free laws are an effective strategy to protect both children and adults from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, interventions designed to reduce or prevent adults from smoking around children are needed," said Melanie Dove, who received her doctorate in environmental health at HSPH in 2010 and led the study.

    The HSPH researchers examined data from the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional survey designed to monitor the health and nutritional status of the U.S. population. They analyzed the cotinine levels in 11,486 nonsmoking youngsters, aged 3-19 years, from 117 counties, both with and without exposure to secondhand smoke in the home.

    In addition to a 39% lower prevalence of detectable cotinine, the researchers also found that children in non-smoking homes had 43% lower mean cotinine levels.

    Over the past decade the number of state and local smoke-free laws in the nation has grown significantly. For example, the number of smoke-free laws in workplaces, restaurants and bars in the U.S. has increased from 0 in 1988 to 175 in 2006.

    "These laws have been shown to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke among adults. Our results show a similar association in children and adolescents not living with a smoker in the home," said Gregory Connolly, senior author of the paper and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH. Douglas Dockery, professor of environmental epidemiology and chair of the Department of Environmental Health, also was a study author.

    According to the 2006 Surgeon General's Report, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic compounds in secondhand smoke because they have higher breathing rates and their lungs are still developing, the authors write. Exposure to secondhand smoke in children can irritate the lungs, resulting in coughing or wheezing, and can trigger an asthma attack in children with asthma. Secondhand smoke also has been associated with sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory illnesses and middle ear disease.

    For children, the home is the primary source of secondhand smoke exposure and most of the smoking is done by the parents. Potential exposure sources for children outside the home include cars, private child care centers, restaurants, shopping malls and parks.

    Approximately 20 percent of the youth in the HSPH study lived with a smoker in the home. These children had the highest cotinine levels and could benefit the most from an intervention to reduce exposure, regardless of smoke-free laws that might be in place, say the researchers.

    "One way to reduce or prevent adults from smoking around children is for physicians to counsel parents to stop smoking," said Connolly.

    This research was funded by the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute Clinical Innovator Award. Dove's research was supported in part by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Training Program in Environmental Epidemiology.  

    "Smoke-free Air Laws and Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Nonsmoking Youth, NHANES 1999-2006," Melanie S. Dove, Douglas W. Dockery, and Gregory N. Connolly. Pediatrics, Vol. 126, No. 1, July 2010, online June 7, 2010. 

    Source: Medical News Today - 08 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cwi3xa

  • Lesbian and gay smokers 'more at risk of respiratory illness'

    Young lesbian, gay and bisexual smokers may be more at risk of acute respiratory illnesses than their straight counterparts, a study suggests.

    American researchers found that gay and lesbian smokers between the ages of 18 and 24 were more likely to have had strep throat, a bacterial infection, while bisexual smokers were more likely to have had a sinus infection, asthma or bronchitis, in contrast to their heterosexual peers.

    Previous studies have found that gay people are more likely to smoke than heterosexuals.

    This study, published in the journal Lung last month by researchers from West Virginia University, used data from a 2006 US college health assessment.

    The respondents, aged between 18 and 24, included 69,723 heterosexuals,1,259 gays and lesbians, 1,717 bisexual people and 1,128 people who were unsure of their sexuality.

    It found that 18.4 per cent of gay respondents and 21.8 per cent of bisexual respondents had ever smoked, compared to 16.5 per cent of straight people.

    Gays and lesbians had a 42 per cent increased risk for strep throat compared with their heterosexual counterparts.

    Bisexual men and women had a 36 per cent increased risk for asthma, 18 per cent increased risk for sinus infection, and 30 per cent increased risk for bronchitis compared to straight people.

    The study also surveyed people who were unsure of their sexuality. These people had no increased risk of acute respiratory illness.

    Researchers said further study was needed to show whether gay and bisexual people were disproportionately affected by more serious chronic respiratory illnesses such as lung cancer and emphysema.

    Source: Pink News - 02 June 2010
    Link: http://bit.ly/cmPDUk

Events

  • No smoke without fire: Practical approaches to smoking cessation in acute and community settings

    The conference will explore the human rights issues surrounding the ban on smoking in psychiatric hospitals in England; find out up to the minute results from the latest Department of Health survey of how the ban is working; hear staff and patients’ views on what it has meant for them; and pick up tips and advice about strategies for putting this difficult piece of policy into place. Delegates can also learn about the impact of a similar initiative in Australia and what else can be done here, outside a hospital setting, to address the high levels of smoking among people diagnosed with a mental health condition.

    Date: 17 June 2010
    Venue: The Resource Centre, London, N7
    Contact: http://www.pavpub.com/pavpub/conferences/showfull.asp?Conference=104

  • National CVD Prevention meeting

    Putting Prevention First – The Professional Challenges

    The conference will discuss the challenges professional face in delivering CVD prevention through NHS Primary Care Trusts and Cardiac and Stroke Networks.

    Professor Roger Boyle and Elizabeth Lynam from the Department of Health will provide an update on the national agenda, new results from the National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation, and the development of a new NHS Commissioning Pack for Cardiac Rehabilitation.

    In primary prevention the principles of CVD risk assessment will be discussed, and there will be a guest lecture by Professor Guy de Backer on new risk markers for clinical practice.

    Date: 01 July 2010
    Venue: Imperial College London
    Contact: www.imperial.ac.uk/cpd/puttingpreventionfirst

  • 4th Latin American Conference on Lung Cancer (LALCA 2010)

    The event will be a time for lung cancer professional from Latin America and around the world to share the most up-to-date information regarding the science and advances in the treatment of lung cancer. International and national speakers will participate in the Scientific Program and their presentations will provide a platform to discuss the latest developments in basic science and clinical treatment.
     

    Date: 28 July 2010
    Contact: www.lalca2010.org

  • Health in Europe - Ready for the Future?

    Leading experts from business and industry, science and academia, patient organisations/NGOs as well as numerous prominent decision makers in health policy present new ideas and use the EHFG as a platform for the exchange of experiences and opinions at the international level.

    Date: 06 October 2010
    Venue: Gastein, Austria
    Contact: www.ehfg.org

  • Smoke Free Futures: Tobacco Control Conference 2010

    Smoke Free Futures is a two day tobacco control conference that asks what are the next steps we need to be taking to secure tobacco free futures for our children and how do we help the 70% of smokers who say they wish to quit more effectively in the here and now.

    Confirmed workshops and presentations at the Conference include:

    • No Smoking Day – Be the first to find out about NSD 2011
    • Young Tobacco Control Campaigners Tell their Stories
    • Understanding the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Framework Convention Alliance
    • Evaluation of the Ireland Point of Sale Legislation
    • Development of a Tobacco Control Strategy for Wales

    Conference participants will have the opportunity to learn from the successes and challenges faced by successful tobacco control practitioners at this highly interactive conference.

    Date: 11 October 2010
    Venue: Mercure Holland House Hotel Cardiff, Wales
    Contact: www.smoking-conference-wales.org.uk

  • SCTRP Annual Update and Supervision Day

    The annual opportunity for SCTRP graduates to troubleshoot existing practice, update on research, and interact with over 100 practitioners.

    Tutors: P Hajek, R West, G Sutherland, H McRobbie and members of their teams.

    Cost: £235 (£200 plus VAT) Early Bird rate prior to course

    Availability: 100+

    Date: 03 December 2010
    Venue: Park Crescent Conference Centre, 229 Great Portland Street, London W1
    Contact: Janice Rossabi on +44 0208 347 0556 or sctrp@yahoo.co.uk