Living longer, smoking less but eating ourselves sick

WE ARE living longer, smoking less and fewer of our children are dying, but we are eating ourselves sick, we can't afford the dentist and we are catching diseases that vaccines could prevent.
Meanwhile, indigenous Australians are still being left behind as the overall national health outlook improves.
An extensive final report on health care by the Council of Australian Governments reform council paints a national picture of dramatic improvements over five years but significant challenges.
The chief concern raised by the report, according to COAG reform council chair John Brumby, is that most of us are fat and many of us don't know we have type 2 diabetes (strongly associated with obesity).
"While Australia's current rate of type 2 diabetes is not out of the ordinary … compared with most of the developed world, our rate of obesity is way out of line. We are amongst the three most obese nations," Mr Brumby said yesterday.
He said if diabetes went untreated, there was a great cost to the individual in terms of kidney, heart and eye disease, and limb amputation - "it's bad for the individual, bad for the economy and bad for the health system."
The report also raises alarming figures on preventable hospital stays - including a 16% increase for conditions that could have been prevented by vaccines.
Other concerns include:

• A sharp increase in the percentage of Australians waiting more than nine months for high residential aged care, while the growth of aged care services has stalled. In bad news for the regions, care places decrease as remoteness increases.
• The cost of dental care. Nearly one in five of us have delayed or avoided a visit to the dentist because it cost too much.
• Increased waiting times for most elective surgery. Patients outside major cities do not generally wait longer - unless they are indigenous.

Big wins in the report include:

• Life expectancy increase for both men and women.
• 20% drop in child death rates - but the rate for indigenous children is still double that of non-indigenous.
• Significant falls in heart disease and cancer - though the male heart attack rate is double that of women and there is still a big gap in heart attack rates between indigenous and other Australians.

A cut in the national rate of lung cancer has been led by a 34% drop in men affected since 2006 - but offset by a huge 88% increase in the female rate.
"We can't change what occurred 25-30 years ago," Mr Brumby said. "There was a peak in smoking rates among women then and we're now seeing that translate into a near-peak in women's lung cancer rates.
"Smoking rates are still a lot higher in the regions. We all think we're indestructible when we're young. But the women's statistics show overwhelmingly that there is a consequence 30 or 40 years on."
Despite the continuing gap in life expectancy and child deaths for indigenous Australians, Mr Brumby attributed the overall improvements partly to big reductions in indigenous infant mortality through "getting mums to stop smoking … better post-natal care, tackling things like domestic violence".
Other cancer figures show rates of cervical cancer rates have fallen and bowel and breast cancer rates have stabilised.
Melanoma rates have stabilised nationally but increased markedly in Queensland.
The big wins

• Life expectancy up (men 79.9 years, women 84.3) - among the highest in the world, but still much lower for indigenous Australians (69.1 and 73.7)
• Child deaths 20% down to 82.9 per 100,000
• Heart attacks and deaths from circulatory disease significantly down - except for indigenous Australians
• Daily smokers down to 16.3% - but a long way to go to meet COAG's target of 10% by 2018.

The big challenges

• 62.7% of adults are overweight or obese
• 1 in 25 Aussies have type 2 diabetes - and a quarter of them don't know it
• A huge, long-term increase in lung cancer among women
• A jump in the number of hospital stays due to vaccine-preventable conditions
• Despite improvements, our health system continues to fail Indigenous Australians.

By numbers for Queensland

• Avoidable deaths for 100,000 people: 155.4 (national figure 146.4)
• 73% of emergency patients treated within benchmark times (72%)
• Half of all patients waited at least 27 days for elective surgery (36)
• 64.4% of patients discharged from psychiatric inpatient services received follow-up (54.6%)
• 77.7 residential aged care places per 1000 seniors (81.9)
• 17.9% of adults smoke daily (16.3%)
• 30% of adults are obese (27.2%)
• 4.6% of adults have type 2 diabetes (4.3%)

Massachusetts Bans Smoking On Beaches

If you’re planning on heading up to the Cape Cod beaches this summer, leave your cigarettes at home. Massachusetts recently passed legislation banning smoking in all lifeguard-protected areas beginning June 19.
The new smoking prohibition results from a number of complaints from visitors who have been affected by secondhand smoke in public areas, NBC News reports.
“The smoking prohibition is the result of a number of complaints from visitors who have been affected by second-hand smoke on the guarded beaches,” park superintendent George Price, said in an issued statement.
Price added that cigarettes on beaches are not only a health concern but also an environmental concern, as they prove very difficult to clean up. Cigarette butts can often become buried in sand before they can be properly disposed of, and thus cause much extra work for beach staff.
Historically, Massachusetts has been a leader among states for restrictions on smoking in public places. In 2004, Mitt Romney placed a statewide ban on covering smoking in the workplace, bars and restaurants. The ban, which aimed to promote “worker safety,” placed a harsh fine on violators. Although the first of its kind, many states have followed suit in the years since.
While governor, Romney also proposed a bill that would make it illegal to smoke in apartment buildings, as to further reduce exposure to secondhand smoke fumes. This bill did not pass.
This new smoking ban covers many of the famous Cape Cod, Massachusetts, beaches including Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham, Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro, and Race Point Beach and Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown.
Cape Cod National Seashore is not the first seashore in the United States to take this step. Fire Island National Seashore in New York has similar prohibitions.

What’s the Best Way to Sum Up the Risks From Smoking?

Maybe you can help me with a math problem. We hear about the number of smoking-related deaths annually, but we never hear them reported as a  percentage of smokers. Reports indicate that approximately 20 percent of adults in this country are  smokers, which amounts to about 50 million Americans. I’ve also heard that roughly 500,000 people die each year from smoking- related  illnesses. This translates to only 1 percent of all smokers!  Despite the hysteria, it appears that a relatively small percentage of smokers die as a direct result of smoking. Am I off-base here?

Marilyn responds:
Yes! Those deaths occur every year, not just once. The World Health Organization states that up to half of current users will eventually die of a tobacco-related disease.
Regardless, the sheer volume of news stories with incorrectly reported statistics is causing a backlash from smart people like you who know perfectly well that nonsmokers also die of cancer and heart attacks, but when smokers die of those same  diseases, they are said to be related to their smoking. So let’s sum up those statistics with one that can’t be misreported: According to a study published last year in The New England Journal of Medicine, lifelong smokers die about 10 years  earlier than  nonsmokers.

Second and final reading of an ordinance that expands the smoking ban in the city

In an unexpected twist, the City Commission at a special meeting Tuesday approved the second and final reading of an ordinance that expands the smoking ban in the city.
The commission approved the final reading as it did the first reading last week at the commission’s regular meeting – on a 3-2 vote.
Commissioners Danny Castillo, Tudor Uhlhorn, and Victor Leal approved the new smoking ordinance while commissioners Mike Mezmar and Chino Sanchez voted against the ordinance. Mezmar’s understanding is that the extended ban goes into effect July 1.
The ordinance exempts fraternal organizations, private clubs, the Valley Race Park, retail tobacco and e-cigarette stores, outdoor seating at restaurants and bars and, “between the tee of the first hole and the green for the final hole” at golf courses.
Proponents have argued that smoking should be banned because it affects innocent bystanders with second-hand smoke. Opponents argue that it is not fair to exempt some or to dictate what people can and cannot do.
Although the ordinance excludes private clubs, the ban would apply when used for a function to which the general public is invited. However, “the exception to this exemption for events held in the facility to which the general public is invited shall not become effective until Jan. 1, 2016,” the ordinance states. The exemption for Valley Race Park would expire Jan. 1, 2016, although smoking would be allowed in the park’s outdoor area after that date.
The new ordinance also notes that one can smoke 10 feet outside entrances, windows and ventilation systems of enclosed spaces and in designated smoking areas.
The ordinance was included on the agenda of Tuesday’s special meeting that the commission said last week would be held to consider adopting a resolution nominating VHS Harlingen Hospital Company, LLC as a Texas Enterprise Project. The commission approved the resolution.

Toronto's crack-smoking mayor to enter rehab

Toronto's scandal-plagued mayor Rob Ford said Wednesday he is taking a leave of absence in order to enter rehab, after a new video emerged allegedly showing him smoking crack days ago.
Ford, 44, has already admitted to binge drinking and smoking crack and is campaigning for re-election on a give-me-another-chance platform.
The Toronto Globe and Mail published a screen grab from a video it said its reporters had viewed, in which Ford is seen holding a metal pipe alleged to contain the addictive cocaine derivative.
In the full video, which the paper said was shot by a self-described drug dealer, the mayor of North America's fourth largest city is seen taking a hit from a copper colored pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and shaking his right hand frantically, the Globe and Mail said.
The dealer says the video was shot in the early hours of Saturday in the basement of the apartment building where Ford's sister Kathy lives.
Approached at City Hall Wednesday evening, Ford declined to respond to questions about the video, the paper said.
The newspaper said the dealer is trying to sell the video "for at least six figures." The paper said Ford's sister has also struggled with a drug problem.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun tabloid posted on its web site audio of the mayor, apparently intoxicated, and captured in a bar Monday night. Ford can be heard swearing and lewdly commenting about several municipal and provincial politicians.
-'Problem with alcohol'-
"I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time," Ford said in a statement late Wednesday, the Star said.
"Today, after taking some time to think about my own well-being, how to best serve the people of Toronto and what is in the best interests of my family, I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as Mayor to seek immediate help."
Dennis Morris, a lawyer for Ford -- who has been campaigning for reelection despite having had his duties reduced in the wake of the scandal -- told reporters Ford would attend a "facility that assists people with substance abuse difficulties."
The mayor, mired in scandal for months after being accused of unseemly behavior during a series of drunken rampages, has been stripped of most of his powers by Toronto city council.
The mayor burst into international headlines nearly a year ago when another alleged drug dealer tried to sell another video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack, to media outlets in Canada and the United States.
Then, Ford denied using the drug but later acknowledged he had smoked crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor" but said he was not an addict.
Since then Ford has been filmed numerous times in public appearing erratic and acting impaired. He had admitted to drinking but never to using drugs.
The anti-tax populist was first elected in a landslide in October 2010, picking up the support of 47 percent of Toronto voters, who liked his promises to cut taxes and slash wasteful spending.
His diehard backers in the suburbs of the Canadian metropolis have kept his approval ratings high despite alleged ties to gang members, admitted crack use and embarrassing YouTube videos.
The Globe and Mail said it was shown three videos of Ford shot secretly early Saturday by the alleged drug dealer.
All three clips were filmed in a cluttered, dimly lit room with a white tile ceiling, it said.
The audio on the three clips was not available because the speaker on the dealer's phone was broken when he made the recordings. The alleged dealer said he supplied the crack that was smoked that night and that he had decided to sell the footage to "make money."
Lawyer Morris said it was hard for anyone to prove what is in the pipe the mayor is allegedly seen smoking.
"So say for example it was marijuana," he said, according to the newspaper. "Would [you] pay more for a video if I told you it was marijuana or crack cocaine?"

Man fights for right to smoke medical marijuana in casino smoking area

A New Jersey man is considering suing for the right to use medical marijuana in an Atlantic City casino.
Daniel Price's lawyer, Michelle Douglass, says that Revel Casino Hotel failed to accommodate his disability when a security guard told him he could not take his marijuana into the casino last month.
The 23-year-old Atlantic City resident is a registered medical marijuana patient. He tells The Press of Atlantic City that he uses the drug to treat seizures and irritable bowel disease.
State guidelines encourage patients to smoke cannabis at home. But they are not barred by law from using it in private businesses.
Revel, like all Atlantic City casinos, has a smoking area. Lisa Johnson, a Revel spokeswoman, declined to comment to the newspaper.

Study shows smoking ban could have positive affect on Kearney's economy

At the tip of the theoretical iceberg that could be a smoking ban for Kearney is how that iceberg might affect the city’s economy.
At a public hearing at the April 7 Board of Aldermen meeting, Amanda Petelin with the American Cancer Society introduced a recent study on how smoking bans have affected various municipalities in Missouri, specifically those cities’ economies. The study was written by Noaman Kayani, Stanley R. Cowan, registered nurse Sherri G. Homan, Janet Wilson, Victoria Fehrmann Warren and Dr. Shumei Yun. It was published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as part of its publication on preventing chronic diseases.

“Overall, the smoke-free ordinance was associated with a significant increase in revenue for eating and drinking establishments in 8 of the 11 cities,” the study stated. “For the other 3 cities, we were unable to detect a significant effect of the ordinance on the taxable sales revenues.”

The study found that Nixa had the largest increase in revenue at 36 percent. Nixa enacted its smoking ban in 2007. Maryville had the second highest increase at 18 percent.

“Consistent with findings of most peer-reviewed economic studies of smoke-free ordinances, we found that smoke-free ordinances had no negative effect on the local economy,” the study stated.

The authors did note that their study had limitations. When analyzing restaurant and bar data, they had access to only aggregate data, therefore they were unable to determine whether such bans had a negative impact on specific businesses.

Chip Glennon, president of the Kearney Area Development Council, said that while he didn’t smoke and a ban wouldn’t affect his business, it could have an affect on other businesses and those effects should be taken into consideration.

“As a business owner, I think it affects some of my peers in the community that own restaurants and bars,” Glennon said. “I think how they feel about this is important. It doesn’t affect me, but it affects them financially.”

The Board of Aldermen was asked why the city couldn’t bring the issue to a public vote, like other cities have. Dane said that Kearney, being a Class 4 city, couldn’t bring the issue to a public vote because it doesn’t involve a taxing issue. Additionally, Dane said he believed a decision on this issue shouldn’t solely be based on how it would affect the local economy.

“In my mind, it’s not a revenue issue. I don’t think this should be about gaining revenue,” Dane said. “This is more important than gaining a dollar here and a dollar there.”

Dane said the issue was more about the public’s health and the rights of small businesses. Dane added that there were many businesses in town that offered quality food that also prohibited smoking in their establishments.

“If I want a really good steak, I might go to Liberty, but not to avoid the smoke,” Dane said.

Tobacco-free cigarettes may be more carcinogenic

A team of researchers have found that tobacco-free cigarettes may be more carcinogenic by actually inducing more extensive DNA damage than tobacco products

The research team was led by Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology. Their study, "DNA damage response induced by exposure of human lung adenocarcinoma cells to smoke from tobacco- and nicotine-free cigarettes," will appear in the June 1 issue of Cell Cycle (Volume 9, Issue 11).

Using the same technique they developed to document the harmful effects of tobacco products, a team of researchers found that cigarettes made without tobacco or nicotine may be more carcinogenic because they actually induce more extensive DNA damage than tobacco products. The technique has been awarded U.S. patent No. 7,662,565.

The authors conclude that their methodology to assess the potential carcinogenic properties of tobacco smoke, based on measurement of DNA damage response as assessed by LSC, provides a useful addition to the battery of genotoxic tests for probing cigarette smoke hazards.

Using laser scanning cytometry (LSC) technology to measure DNA damage response to the smoke from commercially available tobacco- and nicotine-free cigarettes, the research team expected to find the alternative products were less hazardous than regular tobacco cigarettes.

However, their data suggest that exposure of cells to smoke from tobacco- and nicotine-free cigarettes leads to formation of double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs). Since DSBs are potentially carcinogenic, the data indicate that smoking tobacco- and nicotine-free cigarettes is at least as hazardous as those containing tobacco and nicotine.

Such tests, which can be applied to evaluate the effects of cigarettes and cigarette surrogate products on human health, can be important tools for regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or, in the case of environmental smoke, by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Parents Should Not Smoke With kids Around

The effect was particularly strong if young people were exposed to a parent's tobacco use before their teen years, Dr. Stephen E. Gilman of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and his colleagues found. But they also found that in children of ex-smokers "that risk goes away if parents quit," Gilman explained in an interview.

To investigate, they looked at 559 boys and girls ages 12 to 17. The researchers also spoke with one parent of each adolescent participant.

Among parents, 62.4 percent had ever smoked in their lives, while 46 percent had met criteria for nicotine dependence during their lifetime.

While there is mounting evidence that children of smokers are more likely to be smokers themselves, less is known about whether one parent has a stronger effect than the other, and whether the influence of parents on their offspring's smoking behavior is the same throughout childhood and adolescence, Gilman and his team note.

Overall, 27.8 percent of the adolescents reported having used cigarettes, with the prevalence of use increasing with age; 7.2 percent of 12-year-olds said they had smoked, while 61.3 percent of 17-year-olds did.

Each parent independently influenced the likelihood that a young person would start smoking, the researchers found. A mother's smoking cigarettes affected sons and daughters' risk equally, but a father's smoking had a stronger effect on boys than girls, and the smoking habits of fathers who did not live with their families had no affect on offspring's smoking risk. The longer a parent smoked, the greater an adolescent's likelihood of starting smoking. Whether or not the parent was actually dependent on nicotine didn't affect the strength of the relationship.

There are many other factors that influence the likelihood of becoming a smoker, the researcher noted, from the media to genetic susceptibility to addiction. Nevertheless, he and his colleagues write, "a deeper understanding of the intergenerational transmission of cigarette smoking will provide additional insight into avenues of prevention." And, they add, smoking cessation efforts for families and parents "will not only reduce the parent's smoking but likely reduce smoking uptake in subsequent generations."

"What was striking to us is that the effects were strongest at younger ages," Gilman told Reuters Health. Children who were 12 or younger when their parents were actively smoking were about 3.6 times as likely to smoke as children of non-smokers. But the adolescents who were 13 and older when their parents smoked were only about 1.7 times more likely to use tobacco.

UK set for plain cigarette packaging

The public health minister Jane Ellison told the House of Commons today (3 April) the ban on branded packaging would move forward as “swiftly as possible” following a short consultation. Draft regulations will follow along with details of when the changes will take place, she added.

The plan comes after a “compelling” review, commissioned by the government last November, revealed plain packaging would curb the number of child smokers. If the rate of children smoking was reduced even by 2 per cent, for example, it would mean 4,000 fewer children taking up smoking each year, the report found.
Ellison said: “In light of this report and the responses to the previous consultation in 2012 I am therefore currently minded to proceed with introducing regulations to provide for standardised packaging. I intend to publish the draft regulations, so that it is crystal clear what is intended, alongside a final, short consultation, in which I will ask, in particular, for views on anything new since the last full public consultation that is relevant to a final decision on this policy.”
Health charities including the British Heart Foundation welcomed the green light to strip tobacco products of their branded designs.Tobacco brands, however, claim it would be a boon for criminals selling counterfeit goods.
A spokesman from the Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA), which represents the UK’s tobacco sector, said it was “extremely disappointed” with the plan and claimed there is no “credible evidence” that plain packaging would improve public health.
He added: “Plain packaging will simply lower the barriers to entry for criminals, as tobacco products would become far easier and cheaper to copy, adding to the £7.9m per day in tax revenue that is currently lost to the illegal tobacco market. Australia is the only country to have introduced plain packaging and the illegal tobacco market has increased markedly, whilst smoking rates have remained the same.”
The Government pushed back on making a decision on plain packaging last summer, when it said further evidence was needed before considering legislation.
Britain’s tobacco market is worth around $28bn (£16.9bn) annually, according to market intelligence firm Euromonitor International.

General News Ray Winstone quits smoking

British actor Ray Winstone has suffered a setback in his attempt to give up smoking after struggling to get to grips with an electronic cigarette. The Departed star has decided to kick his longtime addiction and opted to swap real smokes for a battery-powered device. However, the actor was dealt a blow when he realised he didn't know how to work his e-cigarette. Winstone tells Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, "I bought one of those false ones and I put the oil in the wrong end. I puffed on it and all the oil went in my mouth. It's like I was not destined to give up (smoking)."

Survey addresses smoking on park playgrounds

Do you think smoking in city playgrounds and spray grounds should be permitted? A survey is hoping to gauge the general attitude of residents concerning the issue in Louisville Metro.
In a release from Public Health and Wellness, Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt said, "We want to measure public sentiment for protecting our children in outdoor spaces where they play."
In 2013 signs that read "children at play, thank you for not smoking" were placed in Cherokee, Iroquois and Shawnee Parks. Public Health and Wellness staff said the number of cigarette butts left in the park decreased after the signs were posted.
In order to gather more information they are asking residents to take their survey by March 31.

Smoking is leaving these fancy places, these big urban areas,” said Ali H. Mokdad, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and an author of the study. “But it has remained in these poor and rural areas. They are getting left behind.”

Americans with a high school education or less make up 40 percent of the population, but they account for 55 percent of the nation’s 42 million smokers, according to a New York Times analysis of health survey data obtained from the Minnesota Population Center, at the University of Minnesota. Since 1997, the smoking rate for adults has fallen 27 percent, but among the poor it has declined just 15 percent, according to the analysis. And among adults living in deep poverty in the South and Midwest, the smoking rate has not changed at all.

Health experts say this finer understanding of who still smokes shows that public health officials need to refocus antismoking efforts on the poor and working class. Michael P. Eriksen, dean of the school of public health at Georgia State University, who ran the federal Office on Smoking and Health under President Bill Clinton, said public programs aimed at struggling Americans were patchy, even as tobacco companies successfully targeted them. Researchers have shown that tobacco companies make corporate contributions to local causes, aim advertising campaigns at low-income areas and even sell cigarettes more cheaply in those areas.

With the national smoking rate stabilizing in more recent years, experts say that reaching poor and working-class smokers, whose problems often include alcohol and drug abuse and mental illness, is crucial to achieving further declines and reducing the heavy financial burden that smoking puts on the health care system.

“The real conclusion here is we need to figure out clever ways to reach these groups,” Mr. Eriksen said. “The effort has been pitiful so far compared to the potential benefit to society from getting these people to stop smoking.”

Clay County, where just 7 percent of residents have a college degree and the poverty rate is double the nation’s, is trying. Manchester, the county seat, a small cluster of gas stations, municipal buildings and fast-food restaurants, banned smoking in restaurants, stores and bars in 2012. The hospital runs a smoking cessation program that offers free nicotine patches and gum in an effort to reach low-income smokers.

Still, progress has been slow. By the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s analysis, Clay’s smoking rate in 2012, at 36.7 percent, was the highest of any United States county with a population of at least 15,000, and had not changed much since 1996.

“Smoking cessation is our biggest uphill battle,” said Jeremy Hacker, the hospital’s community outreach coordinator. While smoking is no longer normal in big cities, he said, in Clay, “it’s not viewed as a problem.”

PDA calls for review of self-selection plans following e-cigarette furore

1) The PDA have asked the GPHC to make ecigs part of the inspection.
2) The PDA have done this because the RPS have advised pharmacy to shun ecigs.


The RPS is a boil (in need of lancing) on the rear end of pharmacy. It represents some pharmacists not all. They have done little to promote, represent or support pharmacy when we needed it. RPS guidance is just that, guidance. It is not a ruling by any regulatory body.


The GPHC are already inspecting pharmacies. The PDA should know that many pharmacists have been left in shock at GPHC expectations/ demands. Does the PDA really think we need to add more to these inspections? The PDA should be representing members that have been forced to sell ecigs against their better judgement. That is all.

If the RPS and PDA want to "promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public" (GPHC's job) then these two organisations should be lobbying the govt to ban ecigs entirely until they have been regulated.

The PDA should be representing its members, not making life more difficult.
The RPS should be allowed to disappear in ignominy.

Tobacco firms' secret lobbying

And the plan is that this rate will have dropped further – to under 5pc – by 2025.
According to the Department of Health, they are in the process of drafting the standardised packaging legislation.
Standardised packaging means that all forms of branding – trademarks, logos, colours and graphics – would be removed, except for the tax stamp, other legal requirements, brand name and variant, which would be presented in a uniform typeface for all brands on the market.
Over 5,200 people die here every year from disease caused by tobacco use, with 44pc of the deaths attributed to cancers.
ASH Ireland is in favour of plain packaging as is the the Irish Cancer Society.
However, the plan is not being welcomed with open arms by the tobacco companies who will be directly affected.
NECESSARY
Among those who sent correspondence were JTI Ireland, a leading tobacco company in the Irish market.
Among the global flagship brands it sells are Benson and Hedges, Silk Cut, Winston and Camel.
John Freda, GM of JTI Ireland, wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton, Health Minister James Reilly, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton and Finance Minister Michael Noonan, with concerns about plain packaging last year.
In his letter to the Health Minister James Reilly last July, he wrote: "JTI believes that appropriate and proportionate regulation of the industry is both necessary and right. JTI shares a common goal with regulators; minors should not smoke, and should not be able to obtain tobacco products."
However, he also said so-called plain packaging represents an "extraordinary deprivation of JTI's most valuable assets – its brands and trademarks."
Mr Freda's letter to Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore last June, warned of the danger to Ireland's global business reputation. He wrote: "International investors would rightly be wary of investing in a country that fails to protect basic business freedoms and destroys intellectual property wholesale.
"No Government should introduce a measure depriving businesses of key assets without clear and reliable evidence it will work."

Rehoboth limits smoking on beach, boardwalk

Steve Curson's quest for a smoking ban on Rehoboth's beach went further than he could have hoped.
On Monday, its commissioners voted to make Rehoboth the last of Delaware's major ocean resorts to ban smoking on the beach, except for a few designated areas. But the commissioners took the ban a step further, prohibiting smoking on the resort's mile-long boardwalk and the public areas adjacent to it.
The ban takes effect May 15.
Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, the guarded ocean beaches at two coastal Delaware State Parks and Dewey Beach already ban smoking. South Bethany Beach still allows it and Lewes, on Delaware Bay, allows smoking on the beach but not in municipal parks.
Curson's effort started last summer over "my frustration ... from sitting on the beach and having smokers ruin my day."
In September, he started a petition drive and by January, he presented close to 1,000 signatures of residents and visitors, calling on city officials to enact a beach smoking ban.
Poll: Limiting smoking at Rehoboth Beach
In 2011, City Commissioner Stan Mills proposed a smoking ban on the beach and boardwalk. Instead, commissioners voted 5-2 to ban smoking in parks, as a first step.
Mills said Monday he was pleased that this time the vote was unanimous and that city officials decided to expand the smoking prohibition.
Mills said second-hand smoke is a real health concern and people shouldn't have to be exposed to it.
"Do we want to become known as the place to go ... to be able to smoke," Mills said. While people can move away from smokers, "they shouldn't have to," Mills said.
The vote Monday reflects a growing local and national trend to restrict smoking in public, outdoor locations. New York City bans smoking at public parks and beaches and New Jersey state lawmakers are considering a similar ban.
Rehoboth commissioners adopted the smoking restrictions at a special meeting on Monday morning.
Mills said the goal is to reduce litter, pollution and health risks.
Curson said that although he hoped for an all-out smoking ban on the beach, he believes that the limited smoking areas are a step forward.
"I can live with that," Curson said. "I'm very pleased they moved as quickly as they did."
Over time, commissioners may be able to extend it to an all-out ban on the beach, he said.
The initiative would be funded using $12,000 currently in the budget to update signs, along with an additional $9,000 in city funds.
The city also hopes to get $10,000 through a grant from the American Lung Association. Mills said he sent in a proposal to the association, which was tentatively approved for up to $15,000.
The ban will not include e-cigarettes, which Mayor Sam Cooper argued was in line with the purpose of the proposal.
"The premise of this ordinance fits that. There's no litter, you use it over and over again, and there's no smoke," Cooper said.
The city manager will come up with the designated smoking areas, Mills said. The ordinance allows for up to 20 that would be designated during the peak season from May 1 through Sept. 30. No more than four designated smoking areas would be allowed in the offseason.
The smoking areas will be at least 40 feet from beach access areas, Mills said. Smokers will find them up near the edge of the sand dunes, and will they will be small – about the size of about four beach towels. They will be marked with signs and equipped with urns to dispose of butts.
"Education is the key to voluntary compliance," Mills said.
Mills said he did not expect the city's police department to enforce the new ordinance with a heavy hand, hoping 99 percent of people would willingly comply. For those who do not, there would be a $25 fine.
Curson said he was pleased the commissioners extended the ban to the boardwalk.
"You might as well be smoking yourself," if you are walking on the boardwalk behind someone who is, he said.
Curson's mother died from lung cancer about six years ago, but he said that wasn't his motivation.
"I felt I was doing it more for the children," he said.

Drop in smoking threatens embattled tobacco bonds

Indoor tanning being compared to smoking

Cases of skin cancer are on the rise and now health experts are saying tanning beds should be considered just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.

Melanoma is currently the leading cause of cancer in women ages 25 through 30 and the blame has been placed on tanning beds.

However, a local business owner says there is another side of the story. The owner of Neon Sun in Amarillo, Blake Goldston, says the health benefits are never included in the research. "The tanning industry has never done any of its own research, all of the research that has ever been done is coming from independent studies through the CDC, through universities, hospitals, that sort of thing, so health benefits include things like helping with allergies, arthritis, it helps with depression and to prevent sleeping disorders."

Most cities in Texas have more tanning salons than popular fast food chain restaurants. A local doctor, Elaine Cook, says there needs to be more health warnings about the risks with tanning. "People think that skin cancer is a minor thing and it is nothing to be worried about. People know tanning beds causing aging and wrinkles and people tend to be more concerned about that, but the skin cancer a lot of people blow off. And you know the sad thing about that is melanoma is the serious kind of skin cancer that kills you."

However, Goldston says there are vital health benefits from participating in indoor tanning. "80 percent of people in the world lack vitamin D and your body needs vitamin D. The CDC actually doubled there weekly recommended exposure to ultraviolet light because of this."

Cook says you don't need to indoor tan to receive vitamin D. She says you get as much as you need through 5 minutes a day of sun exposure to the back of your hand. In September Texas outlawed minors from tanning in a tanning bed, regardless of parental consent.

Report: Captain warned Justin Bieber to stop smoking weed

A captain of a private jet which transported Justin Bieber to New Jersey last week warned the star and his entourage to stop smoking marijuana onboard, according to an incident report.
The “Baby” singer flew in to the state from his native Canada on Friday to attend the Super Bowl football championship game on Sunday, but hit headlines when his private jet was reportedly targeted in a drugs raid after landing.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers and border officials are said to have searched the plane with sniffer dogs, but failed to find any illegal substances.
Now it has emerged the captain of the jet warned the pop star and his entourage to stop smoking dope onboard while they were in the air.
The revelation was made in an official incident report, obtained by Nbcnews.com, which states, “The captain of the flight stated that he warned the passengers, including Bieber, on several occasions to stop smoking marijuana.”
The report also suggests that Bieber, 19, and his group were rude to a flight attendant, adding, “The captain also stated he needed to request that the passengers stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant and after several warnings asked the flight attendant to stay with him near the cockpit.”
The news comes amid mounting legal woes for Bieber, who is facing multiple charges in Florida stemming from a DUI arrest last month, as well as assault allegations in Canada relating to a reported attack on a limousine driver.

Letter: Pass smoking age increase in Suffolk

Emphasizing that smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature disease and death in the United States, a recent report from the surgeon general stresses the need to redouble our efforts to eradicate this epidemic, and especially to prevent young people from starting ["Eye on smoke law impact," News, Jan. 29].Golden Gate Blue
Suffolk County's proposed law to raise the legal smoking age to 21 is right on the mark. Each year, smoking kills nearly 500,000 adults, at a cost of $289 billion in direct medical care and other costs such as lost productivity.
Passage of this law would prevent many of our youth from becoming sad statistics and maintain Suffolk's standing as a leader in this vital public health issue.

Giving up the smokes a step towards a healthier new year

New Year's resolutions do not come bigger or more challenging than ''give up smoking''. It is a pledge that has been honoured by many former smokers, who now live happier and healthier lives without the dreaded gaspers.
But the results of the latest global study on the popularity of smoking, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are a cause for alarm.
The United States study, compiled from analysis in 187 countries, shows the number of men and women who smoke daily rose from 721 million in 1980 to 967 million in 2012, with the average smoker consuming 18 cigarettes each day.
Around the world, this means three in 10 men and one in 20 women smoke daily. Smoking continues to gain popularity in developing countries, especially in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Russia.

Australia has a better record than most. About 17 per cent of Australians smoked in 2012, compared with 35 per cent in 1980. But the bald figures don't lie - more than 3 million Australians still choose to smoke cigarettes. This is despite a public education campaign that has run for decades and an acknowledgement that smoking is public-health enemy No.1.Lucky Strike Click&Roll
The facts are in, the debate is over. Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death and disease. The Australian Medical Association says smoking is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, renal disease and eye disease.
This does not include the effect of passive smoking, which increases the risk of health problems for those who do not smoke. The victims tend to be the families of smokers, who live with the threat every day.
Overall, smoking is likely to kill 1 billion people this century, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The federal government has spent a great deal of taxpayers' money trying to get Australians to stop smoking. No longer will you find advertising for tobacco products. No longer do smokers and non-smokers mingle in planes, pubs and clubs. No longer is it cheap to buy a packets of fags, with the government collecting millions of dollars in excise fees every year. No longer do tobacco companies even have the right to promote themselves on their own products, because of plain-packaging laws.
Leading anti-smoking advocate Simon Chapman, a professor at the school of public health at the University of Sydney, has pointed out that the NSW government was one of the first to ban smoking in its own offices in the 1980s. NSW was also the first state to ban smoking in restaurants, just before the 2000 Olympic Games.
He says Australia's vigilance and relatively small population have helped us turn the tide on smoking rates, but still 3 million Australians light up.
Whether you smoke comes down to choice. If you smoke, you put yourself and those around you at risk. This thought may steel those who have resolved to make 2014 the year to finally give the smokes away.

What’s the state of smoking in America?

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1964 report by then Surgeon-General Luther Terry warning about the dangers of smoking. That report is widely credited with saving millions of lives. For more about the government's current efforts to reduce smoking, we are joined now from Washington by Rear Admiral Boris Lushniak.he is the Acting United States Surgeon General.
Thanks for being with us. I just wanted to start with, where are we on this war against tobacco, war on smoking, considering the long time we’ve had in fighting it?

BORIS LUSHNIAK: Well it’s interesting. We’ve had fifty years of progress since that landmark Surgeon General’s report back in 1964. Over these fifty years incredible things have taken place. Our society has changed. Changed in terms of tobacco use, in terms of its acceptance of smoking in public establishments; in restaurants, in bars. So things have really changed for the better. In addition, smoking rates have come down in the United States. We went from 43 percent of adult smokers in the United States to 18 percent currently. So that’s really made incredible headway, yet I have to emphasize the battle isn’t over, the war isn’t over.
Eighteen percent of American adults who are still smoking, basically 40 million people in our population. So this is really still concerning to me as acting Surgeon General. Certainly of those 40 million people who are actively smokers, the idea is that their health is really being hurt by this incredible habit, by this incredible addiction to nicotine. That being said we have to realize also that of that whole group, we’re going to have roughly a half million people every year dying from smoking related diseases. So although we’ve made progress in a half century the reality is we still have a lot of work to do.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, you know, we increasingly see tough advertisements on the air against smoking. Really graphic descriptions whether it’s targeting teens or people that might have emphysema. Are these ads working?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: I think they’re working. In particular, the CDC- the Center for Disease Control and Prevention came up with a series of advertisements from former smokers called TIPS. And that really was quite effective in terms of reducing the number of smokers. In addition. There’s various policies that need to be implemented and further implemented in order to make us a tobacco free society. So we really have to work at the idea of using media, using those advertisements. We have to look at really concentrating on the youth of America to make it more difficult to actually get cigarettes. And in addition we have to look at the idea of pricing cigarettes appropriately so that ultimately it becomes a hardship to use those products.
HARI SREENIVASAN:  So, let’s talk a little bit about packaging those products. Other countries have much more graphic detail of the potential dangers of smoking. I know the US Court struck down one of the plans here but what’s next? Do we change packaging?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: Well, we’re currently working closely, the office of the Surgeon general is working closely with the Food and Drug Administration, specifically the Center for Tobacco Products and are reanalyzing the whole row of the idea of the warning labels and the idea of how graphic they should be and so there will probably be more information coming out on this in the near future.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Ok, does it make sense to increase taxes on cigarettes? Are the as high as they could be?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: Well in terms of one of the effective methods of us decreasing the number of smokers in America is oddly enough the pricing of cigarettes. So whether it’s the form of taxation of cigarette pricing, that is an effective measure. And although this does become, I use the term before, a hardship, in reality my role as acting Surgeon General is to make sure that we’re doing the right public health thing which is to decrease the number of smokers in America. So yes, pricing is an effective way of dealing with this problem.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Ok, one of the things that I wanted to ask and a lot of people were asking about this when we said that we were going to interview you is this to e-cigarettes- what does the Surgeon General think about e-cigarettes? Is there good data on any deleterious effects to the rest of us or even to those people who are still using them?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: Yes, and the e-cigarette movement has certainly become strong, there’s many more people using e-cigarettes and right now we’re still gathering data. I don’t feel comfortable in terms of the e-cigarettes being a substitute for cigarettes at this point. The reality is there’s still an addictive product within those e-cigarettes that are introduced into the body via the repertory tract via breathing. And so the reality of the situation is we’re still waiting on gathering more data, and again we’re working with the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Tobacco Products that are beginning to look very much more aggressively at the e-cigarette issue. Classic Silver
HARI SREENIVASAN: Now is it possible that we’re going to waiting for data for so long, we don’t get ahead of stopping it in the sense that we might have this actual switch in this transition to e-cigarettes which keeps people unhealthy and then we’re fighting an uphill battle again?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: Well once again my hope is we’ll have data coming out rather soon. What we already know is the e-cigarettes certainly are becoming much more popular. We also know that in many cases the tobacco control policies that are being utilized for regular cigarettes are in fact being utilized for e-cigarettes as well.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Ok, another question we had from a mother in Colorado where marijuana has recently become much more accessible. She’s saying ‘well what about the impact of second hand marijuana smoke on kids? Is there anything that the Federal Government ‘s going to be doing to try and keep her kids safe?
BORIS LUSHNIAK: Well again, from a public health perspective, the marijuana issue has become big. Certainly with the legalization that has taken place in Colorado and in Washington State, it is of concern to me as the acting Surgeon General of the United States. That being said it’s really on several fronts here. One of which is marijuana is addictive. Secondly, once again, it’s something that breathed in and so I really am concerned about the repertory effects of marijuana. And third, it does alter one’s cognition, one’s thought process. And so of those three realms, my concern is not only the secondhand smoking issue but also the issue of the primary issue and the public health effect on that individual.