No More Tobacco

China Aims For National Chain Of Anti-smoking Clinics… China will survey the smoking habits among key sectors, including doctors and teachers, in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as it works towards establishing a national network of anti-smoking clinics.

The goal is to have at least one outpatient facility in each province, where smokers would be offered a combination of medical and psychological treatment depending on their nicotine dependence. view source

Since the population of China is so large, this is likely to benefit 100′s of millions of people. An excellent step towards a smoke-free world.

Sheraton Hotels Protect Workers And Guests In Decision To Go Smoke-Free…originally reported by Medical News Today…Starwood Hotels & Resorts has announced its Sheraton and Four Points by Sheraton Hotels will make its 8,000 smoking guest rooms in 300 hotels and resorts smoke-free by December 31, 2008. Sheraton follows its sister brand, Westin, which was the first hotel chain to become smoke-free in January 2006.

Following is a statement from John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, on the Starwood Hotels announcement:

“Today’s decision to make the Sheraton and Four Points Hotels 100 percent smoke-free will remove a major threat to the health of all Sheraton’s guests and workers. In the United States alone, secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 35,000 to 45,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer among nonsmokers each year. Former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said it himself in June 2006: there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke…” view source

Clean Air For Kids Campaign Scores A Win in Canada The Lung Association praised the B.C. government for being the second province in Canada to announce that it will introduce legislation to ban smoking in cars where children are present. This marks the first “win” since the Association launched its national campaign to end smoking in cars with kids.

“This is a great day for all of us concerned about preserving the respiratory health of our children,” said Nora Sobolov, President and CEO of The Lung Association, “I congratulate Premier Campbell’s government on taking this decisive step and urge other provincial governments to do their part to deal with this public health priority”.  view source

A wonderful step to a smoke-free world.

One Million Tobacco Deaths A Year In India During The 2010s… Medical News Today reported Friday that India is caught in the midst of a catastrophic smoking epidemic, which is causing one in five of all male deaths in middle age and will cause about one million deaths a year during the 2010s. Seventy percent of these deaths (600,000 male and 100,000 female) will be between the ages of 30 and 69.The findings are from the first nationally representative study of smoking in India as a whole. The research, a collaboration between India, Canada and the UK, is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study found that, among men, about 61 percent of those who smoke can expect to die at ages 30-69 compared with only 41 percent of otherwise similar non-smokers. Among women, 62 percent of those who smoke can expect to die at ages 30-69 compared with only 38 percent of non-smokers. This means that smoking accounts for most of the difference in premature deaths between men and women in India. view source

Smoky Bar Triggered Deadly Asthma Attack…Reuters Health reported on February 11 that, according to the reports of researchers, a woman in her late teens died from an acute asthma attack triggered by secondhand cigarette smoke shortly after arriving at her job as a waitress in a bar in Michigan. They said it was the first reported case of an immediate death caused by secondhand smoke. “She didn’t have any other possible known causes of death,” said Dr. Kenneth Rosenman, a Michigan State University professor who oversees three state public health surveillance systems. Cigarette smoke is known to trigger acute asthma attacks. “We know that particulate levels from secondhand cigarette smoke in bars like this reach sufficient levels to set off an asthma attack,” Rosenman said. He said the woman was a student who had a job at a fast-food restaurant, and worked a second job as a waitress at the bar. “She was perfectly fine when she went to work,” Rosenman said in a telephone interview. “After about 15 minutes, she had an acute asthma attack and collapsed on the floor. The autopsy clearly indicates she died from asthma,” said Rosenman, who would not disclose the woman’s name or the precise place and time of her death for privacy reasons.
For the full story: click here.

Best Days To Quit Smoking… We often go about random tasks, that are not routine, like quitting smoking, very arbitrarily. Maybe there is a better alternative. While leafing through a Farmers Almanac, noticed was the fact that they have a list of the best days of the month to do these random tasks, astrologically. Included was the best days of the month to quit smoking. 

BEST DAYS TO QUIT SMOKING IN FEBRUARY : 2, 3, 20, 21, 22, 23, 29 

If you know someone on the fence about quitting, let them know about these days, maybe it will help them kick the habit. It could very well save a life.

Spain Studies Women And Cigarettes…  Medical News Today - A study carried out at the Department of Anthropology of the University of Granada has examined, both at a quantitative and a qualitative level, the reasons for the increase in the use of cigarettes among women experienced in Spanish society during the last 50 years. One of the main conclusions of this study is that the use of cigarettes has become very important for women in order to face up to stress and anxiety, control appetite and body weight, and facilitate interaction in social relations. In that sense, they are used as a tool to get closer to men and to get in touch with them in sexual and amorous interactions. It has also been proved that women use tobacco as a sexual metaphor. Apart from this, the use of cigarettes is symbolic of power and strength when facing unbalanced situations between sexes and male dominance.

This research was conducted by María Luisa Jiménez Rodrigo, who is currently working at the University of Seville, and was led by lecturer Juan Francisco Gamella Mora. A qualitative fieldwork had to be performed in order to carry out this study. This fieldwork was performed by in-depth individual interviews, organization of discussion groups, structured interviews, participant observation, and analysis of the tobacco advertising. This study reveals that the use of cigarettes has attained new and specific meanings in women’s daily life. Therefore, smoking has a series of relative advantages for women, organized into several dimensions: emotional, corporal, social, symbolic and as an expression of power and strength. view source

House Debates Raising Cigarette Tax… Originally reported by tobacco.org. Out of Topeka, KS lawmakers on Thursday started a very heated debate over a proposed increase in the state cigarette tax.

After a hearing in the House Tax Committee, Chairman Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing, said the measure faces strong opposition.

“We’re spending a lot of money for health care, and we’re being asked to look at another revenue source. At what point can we say, ‘More money is not the solution?’ ” Wilk asked.

But health care advocates say a 50-cent per-pack tax increase would provide needed revenue to offset the health costs of smoking and reduce smoking, especially among young people.

This would lead one to see the win-win side of such a proposal. All states would benifit from similar tax increases. How can you go wrong? More money for the state to do better for the people, and introduce yet another great reason behind quitting tobacco. Finacial reasons are a large factor in the ultimate decision to quit. Lawmakers driving up the tobacco taxes, good for the state, good for the people. view source article

Some Campuses Decide Tobacco Company Money Is ‘Tainted’…The New York Times reported on February 4 that officials at the University of Texas business school in Austin became uneasy when they realized that a reliable donor to student activities — the parent company of the tobacco maker Philip Morris — wanted a more prominent role in sponsoring events, and more interaction with students. So the school decided two months ago to draw a line, and refuse all tobacco money for student groups, as well as for faculty research. “What it came down to for us was the ethical dimension,” said George W. Gau, dean of the Texas school, the McCombs School of Business. “The leadership of the school felt that in some sense it was tainted money, that it is money gotten from a product that is significantly harming people.” A move that if nothing else, gains our respect. view article

Smoking Death Toll…studies show that in the 20th century approximately 90 million people died from a tobacco related death. This number is outrageous, but it is estimated to get worse. The World Health Organization warned in a new report on Thursday that the “tobacco epidemic” is growing and could claim 1 billion lives by the end of the century unless governments dramatically step up efforts to curb smoking.  Increased taxes and smoking bans world-wide could reduce this number.