Tobacco News

This is an open letter to the prime minister and people of Jamaica.
THE Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control is becoming increasingly concerned about the decision to expand the production of tobacco growing in Jamaica which is in direct contravention of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Treaty – The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which the Government of Jamaica signed on September 24, 2003 and ratified on July 7, 2005. Ream more »

You’ll forgive me if the blog posts are somewhat more irritable than usual in the coming days, but I’m in the process of giving up smoking (yes, again), which in China, where more than half the male population smokes, makes me something of a novelty. This latest attempt was partly spurred by a recent study from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) project which showed the Chinese cigarettes contain three times the amount of lead, cadmium and arsenic compared to Western (Canadian) ones. Read more

Turkey’s indoor smoking ban that took full effect as of July 2009 has resulted in cigarette sales in the country dropping by 16.2 percent this year over the same period last year, according to data from the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Agency (TAPDK).
According to these figures, 3.64 billion packs were sold in the first eight months of last year, compared to 3.1 billion this year. The effect of the smoking ban on cigarette sales was seen starting in the second half of last year, but smokers in Turkey still spend almost as much for tobacco products as the government allocates to investment. Ream more »

Health officials reported this week that U.S. smoking rates are not going down, and that one if five adults are still smoking regularly. I find this news so disappointing, especially considering that smoking is the number one cause of “preventable” deaths in this country. What are people thinking?
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Action Points
Point out that these studies have negative implications for both maternal and paternal smokers.
Smoking may provide an explanation for reduced fertility, results of two studies suggested.
The first, by Claus Yding Andersen, MD, of the University of Copenhagen, and colleagues, Ream more »

As Spain triumphed against Holland in Sunday’s game, the England footballers seemed to drown their sorrows with a cocktail of cigarettes, girls and a huge bar bill.
But their spirits were remarkably high considering they’d flopped out of the World Cup a matter of days beforehand.
They were joined by EastEnders star Michael Greco as well as a horde of sexy glamour girls who were all desperate to get a piece of the football action that included a stint at LA hotspot XIV. Ream more »

An award-winning venture by a UC Davis student team could turn a public health pariah into a potential hero, using tobacco plants to develop vaccines in weeks instead of months. The team, Inserogen, won the $15,000 grand prize at the Big Bang business plan competition at the University of California, Davis, with its proposal to produce vaccines at a fraction of the cost — and time — of conventional methods. The UC Davis team, which dubbed its product SwiftVax, hopes to capitalize on a global vaccine market it pegs at more than $30 billion and growing.
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Lagos — NO fewer than five million people worldwide die from the effects of tobacco annually.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris who stated this lamented that tobacco companies which spent millions of dollars each year lure new users into nicotine addiction.

Idris who stated this during a press briefing in Lagos on Tuesday to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day at Alausa, Ikeja, noted that through advertising and the use of carefully crafted package designs, the industry continues to divert attention from the deadly effects of the products.

The commissioner, who harped on the theme for 2010 No Smoking Day celebration “Gender and Tobacco with emphasis on Marketing to Women” described the WHO statistics as alarming, adding that such disclosure should encourage all smokers to quit “today” to prevent future heartache and premature death.
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Young athletes often spend time imitating their sport’s role models. Mannerisms, attire and style of play are all elements of their admiration. Unfortunately, dangerous behaviors are also often imitated. Read more

Clark Kent’s post-office box in Dublin was routinely filled with envelopes containing money – reportedly thousands of dollars.
Kent took the money, used some of it to buy tobacco and smuggled it into the Pickaway Correctional Institution near Orient, southwest of Columbus. Tobacco is banned in all state prisons, making it the top contraband item – above even marijuana and other drugs. Read more