Breaking the law to quit smoking

West Vancouver resident Gary Adelson tried everything — gum, patches, willpower, acupuncture, even hypnosis — to get off cigarettes because he could feel the physical toll smoking was taking on his body. A two-pack-a-day smoker for almost four decades, the 58-year-old made about a dozen attempts to quit in as many years, but the addiction was just too powerful, according to The Vancouver Sun.
 
Adelson was a couple of days into his latest quit attempt in 2010 and surfing the Internet when he stumbled across electronic cigarettes, devices that were supposed to deliver the nicotine without the smoke. He found someone in Vancouver on Craigslist who sold them and met him in an alley, where he exchanged cash for a plastic bag containing the device along with a nicotine-infused liquid.

Reynolds wants changes to warning label on smokeless tobacco products

Winston-Salem-based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make changes to one of the warning labels on smokeless products, the Winston-Salem Journal reports.

The change would say that while smokeless tobacco is not safe, it "presents substantially lower risks to health than cigarettes.” The warnings currently say smokeless tobacco "is not a safe alternative to cigarettes.”

Smokeless tobacco products include moist snuff, snus, dissolvable products and e-cigarettes.

The FDA will hold a hearing Monday on how the agency should monitor and regulate smoking cessation and nicotine-replacement therapy products, according to The Business Journals.

Less Harmful Constituents When Heating Tobacco at Lower Temperatures?

Many of the harmful constituents found in the smoke from a conventional cigarette result from the burning of tobacco. Lowering the temperature at which the "smoke" is generated means that nicotine and some aroma compounds are still released, but the user may no longer be exposed to some of the combustion products that are generated by the burning of tobacco and which may contribute to the risk of smoking-related diseases. By measuring the air flow through a tobacco matrix that is heated in a new type of smoking product it may be possible to determine which constituents are released, at which time and at which location.

The research of David Lopez Penha of the University of Twente is an important first step in understanding the physics of smoking.

Lopez Penha has investigated flows in porous media, derived from cast leaf tobacco biomass. He has developed a model that predicts the flow of hot air through this highly complex porous medium. For this purpose the 3-D pore geometry was reconstructed using microCT-scans (micro-Computed Tomography). For the first time, his work provides some insight into the way that air flows through the small pores inside the tobacco plugs: this could open up a new way of determining which substances may be released and at what concentrations, during the flow of air through heated tobacco matrices, according to Science Daily.

Bar owners protest state smoking ban

State bar owners have been raising opposition to the statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, claiming to legislators and courts that the ban is ruining their business.

While restaurants have come to appreciate the ban’s unforeseen effect of increasing sales, the president of the N.C. Bar, Pub & Tavern Association recently wrote a letter to the N.C. General Assembly urging legislators to exclude profit-making bars from the ban.

Sales at Gate City Billiards Club, a private club in Greensboro, have decreased 25 percent since the 2010 ban , said Don Liebes, the club’s owner and president of the association.

“We’re different from restaurants,” he said, adding that 75 percent of his customers smoke. “The ban put us at a competitive disadvantage.”

Because of the ban, the club has lost $30,000 since January, Liebes said. On an average Friday night, the club now serves 30 fewer customers — about a 15 percent decrease.

“We’re not making any money,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before we go under.”

Bar and restaurant owners in the state were initially concerned that the ban would be an excessive regulation, said Brad Hurley, co-owner of the 42nd Street Oyster Bar & Seafood Grill in Raleigh and chairman-elect of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.

But some restaurant owners now say the ban has boosted sales. In a letter sent Oct. 5 by the restaurant association to the legislature, one restaurant owner reportedly observed a 25 to 30 percent growth in sales since 2009, reports The Daily Tar Heel.

Advocates to push for local tobacco control again

Tobacco users, how about giving up tobacco? And lawmakers, how about giving up tobacco money? And giving cities in Oklahoma the option of crafting their own tobacco-control measures?

Tobacco use is arguably Oklahoma's biggest health problem, and a main reason the state regularly ranks poorly on measures of health and well-being.

It's the state's No. 1 cause of preventable death, responsible for the deaths of about 6,000 Oklahomans a year. At current usage rates, an estimated 87,000 Oklahoma young people will ultimately die premature deaths as a result of tobacco use.

The state has made strides in recent years in protecting non-users from the proven hazards of secondhand smoke. That's to our credit. But until the stranglehold that the tobacco industry has over our Legislature is broken, don't look for much more progress. 

 According to the website, 84 of the 97 representatives in office as of Oct. 1 have accepted a total of $80,550 in campaign contributions from tobacco lobbyists since 2006. Also since 2006, 45 of them have accepted a total of $29,750 from tobacco PACs. And 86 have accepted a total of $25,304 in meals and other gifts from tobacco lobbyists.

Nine representatives have accepted more than $3,000, and only one of them voted for tobacco-control legislation last year.

Over in the Senate, 41 of 48 senators have accepted a total of $74,750 in campaign funds from tobacco lobbyists since 2006. Twenty-two have accepted a total of $19,750 from PACs, and 42 have accepted a total of $12,615 in meals and other gifts.

Eleven senators have accepted a total of $3,000 or more.

Canada's tobacco warnings

Canada's world ranking for cigarette package warnings rose to fourth in 2012 from 15th in 2010 after new Canadian warnings covering 75 per cent of cigarette packages were implemented, an international report finds.

Australia, which received the top ranking, has the largest warnings, covering 82.5 per cent of the package front and back of packages (75 per cent front, 90 per cent back), the group said. Australia also prohibits tobacco company colours, logo and design elements on the branded part of the package.

The other top-ranked countries for warning sizes in the report were:

- Uruguay tied for second with Sri Lanka at 80 per cent (80 per cent of front, 80 per cent of back),

- Brunei tied with Canada for fourth at 75 per cent (75 per cent of front, 75 per cent back).

Heavy Smoking on the Rise Among Teens

The smoking rate among men dropped from 51.6 percent in 2005 to 48.3 percent in 2010, but more than one in every 10 teenagers still smokes, according to the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The rate among middle and high school students who smoked more than once over the 30 days prior to the annual KCDC survey has remained steady at around 12 percent since 2007. The figure was even higher among boys at 17 percent last year.

What is more worrisome is increasing number of smoking teenagers. The rate of those who smoked every day for 30 days prior to the survey rose more than 1.5 times from 3.9 percent in 2005 to 6.1 percent last year. Last year some 2.8 percent said they smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day.

Some experts blame the social environment where many adults can be seen smoking in the street and cigarettes come in garish packets.

According to last year's survey, 39.6 percent of teenagers said they saw family members or guests in their home smoke over the last week, informs The Chosunilbo.

"Adolescents tend to imitate adults or celebrities," claimed Lee Hae-kook of Catholic University College of Medicine. "If they smoke in adolescence, when the brain develops, teenagers can get seriously addicted to nicotine and also easily fall victim to other addictions like alcohol or gambling."